


Bound

by OokamiKasumi



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:19:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 66,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OokamiKasumi/pseuds/OokamiKasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because he has the ability to see spirits, Takashi Natsume is used to seeing strange things and having strange experiences on a regular basis. However, his strangest experience was with a not-quite ordinary man. (Natori / Natsume / Madara) (COMPLETE)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoiler Alert:** Events occurring happen in anime episode 9, and manga vol. 02, chapter 7 _'Ayakashi Exorcism'_. Since there are time-line and seasonal discrepancies between the anime and the manga episodes of this particular story, I have chosen to follow the manga version more closely than the anime. Case in point, the story _'Five Day Mark'_ occurs Before this chapter in the manga, yet After this episode in the anime.
> 
>  _Special Note:_ Natsume is 17 in this story.

  
**‘Natsume Yuujinchou’** characters, terms, and locations property of **Midorikawa Yuki** **.  
** This story was written for the intent of Personal enjoyment. No money was made from this work.

A very special thank you to YanaGoya for this version of Madara.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ One ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My name is Takashi Natsume, and ever since I was little, I'd sometimes see strange things. Things that wore long robes and masks from centuries ago, but weren't quite people. Things with feathers, fur, or scales, but weren't quite animals. Dark, shapeless, things that stank horribly and floated through ceilings and walls, but weren't quite...anything in particular. Things...that no one else could see.

I guess you could call them...spirits.

Just this afternoon during lunch, right outside the window, I saw a grotesque skeletal head with long greasy hair sticking sideways out of a tree. The amazingly hideous view surprised me so much I spat my drink all over my desk -- and one of the two guys standing by the window.

The one I spat on shouted in surprise. 

The other whipped around to frown at me. "Something wrong, Natsume?"

I hastily grabbed my napkin to wipe my face, and the spill all over my desk. "Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" I smiled as cheerfully as I could. "Sorry about that."

The first guy, the one I spat on, grabbed for a napkin to wipe down his wet shoulder and curled his lip in disgust. "Gross, Natsume...!"

I threw up my hands. "I'm sorry! Really!"

Outside in the tree, the head slipped back into the branches, laughing.

Unfortunately, things like that happen all the time. My days are always full of surprises.

My deceased grandmother Reiko could see spirits too, so apparently it ran in the family. From what I understand, people thought she was more than a little strange for talking to things they couldn't see, so they avoided her. Eventually, the spirits became her only company. However, I wouldn't actually say she'd been on sociable terms with them.

Reiko had a habit of challenging the spirits to games and then beating them up, or just plain whacking them with a baseball bat plastered with _sutras_. She then demanded that the defeated spirit ink their name on paper and give it to her. Every single name was bound between two wooden covers and tied with a ribbon, a collection that she called the ' _Book of Friends_ '.

Late in the spring of my sixteenth year, I inherited Grandma Reiko's belongings -- and her book.

Only a month or so later, that following summer, I came to live with the Fujiwaras in a quiet little farming town at the foot of the mountains on the far edge of nowhere. It was then that I discovered that Grandma Reiko had been _very_ busy in the area, and that I looked an awful lot like her. Evidently, my unusual sandy-blond hair and pale brown eyes were yet another inheritance from my grandmother.

Because of my close resemblance, I was constantly pursued by spirits who seemed to think that I was my grandmother. Apparently, spirits don't make a distinction between genders -- most likely because they change their gender almost as often as they change their forms.

Many of the spirits that sought me merely wished to have their names returned. Unfortunately, there were more than a few extremely dangerous spirits who pursued me for the power the book represented. You see, anyone in possession of the book could command any spirit whose name was in it.

One of those looking to take possession of the _Book of Friends_ is my self-styled bodyguard and instructor in the matter of spirits. He's a monstrous, white dog spirit that wears the shape of a rotund, calico-marked ceramic 'good-luck' cat. I freed him from a binding seal by accident.

After a brief fight involving my fist and his nose, he kindly agreed to wait upon my death to gain the book. Yes, that was sarcasm, and no, I am not joking.

It was he that taught me to summon and command the spirits named in the book. However, I really don't like doing that. I honestly don't feel its right to make anyone do anything against their will. Strangely enough, he also taught me the ritual to return the names to the spirits who came to claim them. As a result, the book he plans to collect upon my death has been getting thinner as each day passes.

Sometimes, I really wonder what's going on in that creature's mind.

Another odd thing is that the creature's luck-cat form is perfectly visible. Because of the way he constantly followed me around, everyone assumed he was my pet cat. Rather than try to explain the unexplainable, I merely nodded and smiled. For convenience sake, I called him _Nyanko,_ Cat, or when he was being sensible _Nyanko-sensei_ , Master Cat -- which wasn't often. He has a real name; Madara, I just don't like using it. As the _Book of Friends_ so clearly illustrates, names have power.

When I first introduced Nyanko-sensei to Mr. and Mrs. Fujiwara, the older couple I lived with, they thought he was a little odd-looking, but other than that, they though it was nice that I'd acquired a pet. They saw it as a sign of me "settling in" to my new home.

Sometimes, I really wonder what's going on in their minds too.

Seriously though, the Fujiwaras were the kindest people I'd ever stayed with -- and I've lived with a great many people. My parents died when I was very young so I got passed around -- a lot. No one wanted to keep a strange boy who told scary stories about invisible things, so I was forever being shunted from relative to relative, each more distant than the last.

I did _not_ mention that I saw strange things to the Fujiwaras. I had absolutely no desire to alarm them or burden them in any way. Instead, I kept a smile on my face, stayed quiet, and did as I was told without question. When I had spirit situation to deal with, I left the house -- usually by my bedroom window.

Anyway... For the longest time I was convinced that no one else could see the spirits the way I did. The autumn following the summer that marked my first whole year spent in one place, shortly after my seventeenth birthday, I discovered that I was wrong.

It all began one Sunday afternoon in early October when I was down in the kitchen helping Mrs. Fujiwara, Touko in the kitchen.

With her gray-streaked hair bound up in its usual bun and her hands covered in bright yellow rubber gloves, Touko was washing the lunch dishes at the sink before the wide kitchen window.

Armed with a dishtowel and my white wool sweater sleeves pushed up to my elbows, I was drying and putting the dishes away in the cupboards. Truthfully, I enjoyed helping Touko. She seemed pleased to have the company and I felt like I was contributing to the household and not quite a total burden. 

Smiling as she scrubbed, Touko rattled on about some child of the neighbors who had gotten themselves into trouble by climbing another neighbor's peach tree.

I nodded and smiled in the appropriate places.

The floor suddenly trembled under our feet and the glasses in the strainer rattled.

Touko stilled plate in hand, and blinked. "Oh my, was that a tremor?"

I turned to look toward the kitchen doorway.

The rotund cat was thumping across the floor hard enough to make the floorboards creak -- and the walls shake. Normally, his shape is rather round with an over-sized head and undersized feet. At that moment, he was so fat that his feet weren't even visible.

I scowled at the cat. "No ma'am, it's just someone that needs to go on a diet." In truth, he needed to stop raiding the Fujiwaras refrigerator in the middle of the night.

The Fujiwaras had mentioned the occasional thing missing from the refrigerator, a few boiled eggs, some hamburger, some leftover fish, a dish of thawing shrimp, and a wedge of cheese. However, I hadn't realized just how bad it really was until then. The cat was so huge he could barely move.

Touko turned and stared at the cat. "Oh dear, I see what you mean."

The cat looked up at me, blinked, and spoke in his creaky little-old-man's voice. "What was that, Natsume?"

I didn't reply. I didn't want to seem odd in front of Touko. While people could see the cat, only I could hear him speak -- unless he _wanted_ to be heard. That didn't stop me from aiming a glare at him.

Touko looked over at me. "You know, he's been cooped up in the house an awful lot. Perhaps he just needs a bit of exercise?"

I nodded firmly. "Good idea, I'll take him for a walk." A really long one, all the way out to the temple in Eight Fields. A spiritual defense _sutra_ stuck to the bottom of the refrigerator's crisper drawer ought to put a stop to his thieving ways. Bodyguard or not, I would not have that creature inconveniencing the Fujiwara's in any way.

The cat blinked. "A walk...?"

Three hours later, the cat and I were on the far side of town walking down one of the gravel farm roads bordering the forest. On our right, a broad grassy field with waist-high grass sloped down toward a distant patch of woods.

The cat toddled at my side, a grumpy scowl on his tiny mouth. "So, what are we doing all the way out here, Natsume?"

I scowled right back. "We're out here because you need to work off some of that fat." I was not about to mention that I was aiming for the temple only ten minutes down the road to get a _sutra_ to keep him out of the fridge.

"Fat...!" The cat laid back his ears, bared his tiny teeth, and the hair lifted down his orange and gray calico spine. "Idiot! I am _NOT_ fat! My coat is just getting thicker for the winter."

"Your coat is made of _ceramic_. It doesn't grow or shed." Oddly enough, the ceramic cat's fur _felt_ like fur, when he had a mind to let it. Other times, it was as smooth as the glass his body was actually made of.

The cat bounced on his far too tiny paws, his bob-tail straight up. "That is entirely beside the point!"

I could only roll my eyes. _Denial, much_?

A small brown and black dog suddenly dashed out of the tall grass to bark at the cat.

The cat caught the dog's gaze and smirked. A thick wave of his true aura -- that of a monstrous spirit dog, rolled off of the tiny body.

The small dog went bug-eyed, tucked his tail under his legs, and cowered, whimpering.

I heaved a heavy sigh. "Can't you act more like a cat?"

The cat harrumphed and lifted his nose. "I am NOT a cat." Something suddenly caught his attention and he turned to look at the grass on the right. "Oh look Natsume, a grasshopper! A grasshopper! Oh, it's getting away!" He lunged into the tall grass, disappearing in an instant.

I winced. "Crap..." _Me and my big mouth_. I plunged into the waist-deep grass and ran down the hill after him. "You're going to end up a stray, Cat...!" My foot caught on something submerged in the deep grass and I tripped. Yelping in surprise, I went tumbling.

Someone wearing a long gray wool coat rose up from the grass to catch me around the waist.

Gasping for breath, and rather glad I hadn't gone face-first into the dirt, I turned in their hold and looked up at them.

My rescuer had neatly trimmed sandy-blond hair, the exact same shade as mine, and cinnamon eyes framed by long dark lashes under high arching brows. His face was very remarkable in that his cheeks were gently rounded, not rugged at all. He was...pretty, for lack of a better term, rather than handsome.

In fact, the man was so attractive, I would have thought he was a woman if not for that fact that I could feel against my chest and hip exactly how hard and muscular his slimly built body was under his long coat.

He was altogether _too_ pretty to be human. Could he be a spirit? Had the cat switched into a different human form? His usual one was that of a high-school girl.

He smiled with lips that were full and almost feminine, but spoke with a penetratingly deep voice. "I'm terribly sorry! It was me you tripped on me. I was napping."

I blinked at him. _An apology_? Clearly, he wasn't the cat. That's when I noticed the lizard-shaped black mark on the side of his throat. _A tattoo_?

He frowned slightly. "Are you alright?"

_Oh crap!_ He'd been talking to me and I'd just been staring. I hastily nodded and smiled. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

He smiled, and I swear the sun came out simply to shine on it. "I'm pleased." He pulled me upright and released me to stand.

Someone further out in the field called out. "Mr. Natori! Break's over!"

The man swept past me. "Right! Coming!"

I stared after him in complete shock. He _wasn't_ a spirit? A _human_ was that pretty?

"Natsume!"

I turned to see who'd called me.

Nishimura, one of the guys from my class waved and galloped through to tall grass toward me, his haphazardly cut brown hair flying in the wind. "Natsume! That was Shuuichi Natori!"

I summoned up a friendly smile and jabbed a thumb over my shoulder. "You know that guy?"

"Are you kidding?" Nishimura grinned, practically bouncing on his feet. "He's an up and coming actor! I'm out here because I'd heard that they were doing a photo shoot around here."

I looked back at the beautiful man. _Shuuichi Natori...an actor_. No wonder he was so pretty.

Mr. Natori suddenly turned toward me, smiled, and waved.

I had no idea how to respond.

Directly behind me several voices squealed with absolute glee.

_What the_...? Startled, I turned to look behind me.

To my surprise, quite a few of my fellow classmates were standing around in the tall grass, waving. Most of them were girls, but there were more guys than I would have thought.

I blinked at the small crowd. _When did the fan club get here?_ I could have sworn I was the only one out here -- besides the cat.

As though conjured by my thoughts of him, the cat abruptly stepped into the clearing in the grass the fan-club had created.

I sighed in relief. "There you are, Cat." After exchanging goodbyes with my classmates, I headed stepped back on the road toward the temple.

That was not the last time I saw Mr. Natori, unfortunately.

~ * ~


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Two ~  
** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Completely surrounded by forest and at the top of a winding stone staircase, the temple in Eight Fields is a small, single storey Chinese styled building made of hand-polished wood with a sloping red-tile roof. It was old and a little battered, but the red paint on the roof supports and the porch columns guarding the door was fresh.

As soon as the temple came into view, the cat's eyes narrowed. "Natsume, why are we here?"

I smiled as innocently as I was capable of. "I thought I'd stop by for a visit."

He immediately started spitting, hissing, and shouting up a storm. "A visit! What do you mean, a visit? That's a _temple_ , you idiot! I can't go in there!" His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What business do you have in there? That blind priest can't do anything for you that I can't -- and better too!"

Leaving the cat on the stone steps, I crossed the patio, and stepped up onto the small porch.

The cat's fury devolved into growls, hissing, and name-calling. "Stupid, Natsume! Idiot boy! Ungrateful brat! After all I've done for you...!"

Sighing heavily, I slipped off my shoes, leaving them at the door, and stepped inside. The interior of the temple smelled of incense and wood polish and metal polish. A humongous solid bronze effigy of a reclining Buddha surrounded by thousands of lit candles took up almost the entire interior. I blinked at it, unable to imagine how many hours went into polishing it -- and cleaning up spilled candle wax. 

I moved to the left and spotted movement in the far back corner. Moving slowly, so I wouldn't disturb the candles, I slipped past the Buddha and walked deeper into shadow.

Sitting in the far left corner and against the wall on a thick cushion was the bespectacled monk Mr. Tanuma with his robes tucked neatly around his knees. Before him was a low black table scattered with scrolls, books, and papers. By his right hand were a solid black ink stone and a cup holding ink brushes. Wielding one of the slender brushes, he inked words in flowing lines down a sheet of creamy rice paper.

An open door at the center of the very back wall, shed bright sunlight onto his table, and revealed the small spare apartment where the Mr. Tanuma stayed with his son.

The priest and his son were the only two people in town that knew I saw spirits. Mr. Tanuma wasn't sensitive to them at all at all, which is why the spirits considered him blind. However, that didn't stop his purification spells from packing one hell of a wallop.

His son Kaname _was_ sensitive to spirits, but he only saw them as flickering shadows. He couldn't see them or hear them the way I did. As schoolmates, we had a tentative friendship. Kaname and I spoke on occasion, but I was afraid to get any closer than that. With all the spirits chasing after me, his inability to see them clearly could get him seriously hurt -- or killed.

I did not tell them about the _Book of Friends_.

Mister Tanuma looked up and smiled. "Oh, young Natsume, nice of you to visit."

I bowed politely. "Mr. Tanuma." All of a sudden, I had no idea how to ask for what I needed -- a _sutra_ to ward a refrigerator from gluttonous spirit cat.

The monk rose from his cushion. "I was just about to make a pot of tea, would you like some?"

I nodded and smiled, grateful for the chance to gather my thoughts.

"Come along then." Mr. Tanuma led me into his tiny apartment. The main room was small, holding only a battered loveseat and a worn wing-backed chair with a small table and lamp between them. There was no sign of a TV set. Instead, there were shelves on every wall loaded with books and scrolls jammed in every available space. On the left, I noticed a short hallway with two doors I assumed were bedrooms, and a door at the far back that was most likely the toilet and bathroom.

In the center of the main room's back wall, the door was open. Bright sunlight poured through the glass of the storm door. Large, nearly floor to ceiling windows framed the door on either side letting in even more sunlight.

"Please, have a seat." Mr. Tanuma waved me toward the loveseat then stepped into the kitchen alcove on the right. It was little more than a long cupboard counter with a stove at the near end, a small refrigerator at the far end, and a sink in the middle. Rather than cabinets over the counter, there were shelves. On the far right was a tiny kitchen table with two chairs. The monk set a kettle on the small gas stove. From the shelves above the sink, he pulled down a plain black teapot and two matching cups. "All I have at the moment is black tea, will that do?"

"Black tea is just fine." I sat on one side of the loveseat and looked around with interest. Some of the books and scrolls lying about looked positively ancient.

Mr. Tanuma came back into the main room with a small wooden tray holding the steaming teapot and cups, a pair of spoons, a small pitcher of cream and a sugar bowl. He set the tray on the table and poured the tea, then sat in the wind-backed chair.

I added a small amount of sugar and cream to my cup. It was hot, and strong. Perfect after a long chilly walk with an annoying companion.

For several minutes of companionable silence, we simply sipped our tea. Eventually, Mr. Tanuma set his empty cup on the table and smiled. "So, young Natsume, what brings you here on such a pretty autumn day?"

I set my cup on the tray. I had thought and thought over how I should ask, but all I could come up with was the bald truth. I took a deep breath and just spat it out. "With all due respect sir, I need a charm to keep a certain spirit out of...a certain place."

Mr. Tanuma's brows lifted. "I see." He folded his hands together and smiled. "Is this place large or small?"

Relieved that the hard part was over, I smiled. "It's small."

Mr. Tanuma turned to his left and opened a wooden box filled with blank yellow slips of paper. "How small? A small room or a small object?" He opened one of his scrolls revealing gorgeous calligraphy.

Fascinated by the scroll, I didn't monitor what I was saying. "It's a refrigerator."

Mr. Tanuma froze, then his gaze slid to mine. "A...refrigerator?"

I stared at him in shock, unable to believe I’d just blurted it out like that. _Oh well, too late now._ I looked down at my folded hands and hunched my shoulders. "Yes, sir." I lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. "The spirit staying with me is sneaking into it at night." I snuck a glance at him. "It's not good for him, and it's definitely not good for the Fujiwaras budget."

Mr. Tanuma blinked, wide-eyed.

I ducked my head wincing. _Here it comes, the part where he calls me a liar and kicks me out_.

Mr. Tanuma chuckled softly. "I knew you were friendly with the spirits, but I had no idea one of them was actually staying with you."

I looked up at him in more than a little surprise. "You believe me?"

He shrugged and gathered his scroll and the papers. "No reason not to." He smiled. "My son does, though he tells me that you can see them as clearly as you see me. He says you even speak to them and I _know_ you occasionally help them out." He winked.

He was referring to last summer when the local spirits petitioned me to find the exorcist who kept flooding the area with random purifying waves. Mr. Tanuma might not be able to see them, but his Buddhist spiritual powers were undeniably strong.

I nodded and smiled. "I try to help when I can."

Mr. Tanuma rose with the scroll and papers in hand. "Let me take this back to my table. I believe I can make just the thing for you."

I rose and followed the monk into the temple.

He took a seat on his cushion and spread the scroll out. "You probably won't believe this, but there actually is a small charm specifically for keeping spirits out of food."

I blinked. "Really?" I couldn't help but smile. "That's exactly what I need." I dug into my pockets for the money I'd saved from my pocket allowance. "How much do I owe you?"

He paused in the process of inking a very slender brush and smiled up at me. "Leaning against the outside wall, right by the door is a broom. Would you mind sweeping the leaves off the porch and patio?" 

I blinked at him. "You don't want money?"

The monk waved his hand in dismissal. "Not from a child."

I looked him dead in the eye. "I'm seventeen."

He blinked back at me. "But, you're in my son's grade, aren't you?"

I nodded slowly. Yes, I was a little old for being in my first year of high school. I offered a tentative smile. "Before the Fujiwaras took me in, I'd changed schools a little too often, so I was put back two grades."

It was the god's honest truth. Moving from home to home so often didn't allow for consistent schooling, never mind consistent grades. Of course, none of my current classmates had any idea that I was two years older than they were. I was somewhat thin and a little short, so I looked far younger than I actually was -- which allowed me to blend in perfectly.

A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth. "My son is in a similar situation." He sighed. "Problems...kept cropping up at the schools he attended, so he's a bit...old for his grade too."

Problems -- meaning spirits. I nodded in complete understanding.

Mr. Tanuma smiled. "My son will be seventeen this winter."

I blinked. As tall as he was, I'd realized that young Tanuma was a bit older than the rest of our classmates, but I hadn't realized that he was _that_ close to me in age. "Oh..."

Mr. Tanuma waved his hand. "Either way, your money is no good to me." He smiled. "But that porch could _really_ use a good sweeping?"

I smiled and bowed. "Yes, sir and thank you sir."

He brandished his ink brush. "Go-Go! Sweep-sweep!"

I left the monk to his work and squeezed past the Buddha to step outside and put on my shoes. I found the twig broom exactly where he said it would be and started sweeping. Since it was October, and the temple was in the middle of a forest, there were a LOT of leaves on the patio and porch.

The cat hopped up onto the top step of the long staircase then scooted around the edge of the temple's patio to face me. "Natsume, what _are_ you doing?"

In a jovial mood, I smiled. "I'm making pancakes, what does it look like?"

"Pancakes...?" The cat frowned. "It looks like you're sweeping to me."

I smiled brightly. "Well then, if you know what I'm doing, why did you ask?" I swept the gathered leaves into his face.

The cat huffed and puffed through the leaves. "Brat! What were you doing in there with that priest?"

Without pausing in my sweeping, I shrugged. "We had tea and talked about his son." It was the truth -- just not _all_ of it.

The cat followed me without stepping onto the patio. "So why are you sweeping?"

"Because it needed to be swept." I swept another pile of leaves into the cat's face.

The cat squawked in surprise and sputtered. "Natsume, you idiot...!"

I quickly moved to the center of the patio to distance myself from the irate cat digging his way out of the leaves. Hopefully, I'd annoyed him enough to derail his train of questioning.

Once the cat crawled out of the leaves, he toddled around the edge clearly trying to get close to me without stepping on the patio. "Natsume, you're up to something! I can tell!"

 _Well there goes that hope._ I continued sweeping, but decided to go on the attack. "You're absolutely right! I am plotting against you with the priest!"

The cat huffed and snorted. "Like that priest can do anything to me?"

"Well, now that _that's_ out of your system..." I smiled and changed the subject to the cat's favorite topic. "I wonder what Mrs. Fujiwara is making for dinner?"

The cat bounced in place. "Oh! I know! Hot-pot with tender, juicy leeks, boiled eggs, and lots of chicken...!"

I nodded solemnly while casually sweeping another pile of leaves in his direction. "Is that so?"

The cat eyed the leaves getting closer to him. "Yes, and if you don't finish that soon, we will be late for it."

I smiled widely. "Oh, then I guess I better hurry." I sent my gathered pile of leaves flying his way.

The cat dodged to the left. "Nyah! Nyah! Missed me! Missed me!"

"Just that once, you obese cat!" Brandishing my broom like a hockey stick, I chased him with more leaves.

The cat dodged around the edge of the patio to the left. "Obese! Who's obese?"

I chased after him with more leaves. "The way you eat, are you a cat or a pig?"

The cat dodged the other way. "At least I eat! Do you? Ever? You're so skinny I can't tell if you're a sapling gone very wrong, or just a twig...!"

Sweeping madly, I chased after him. "A sapling gone wrong? You're gonna have to do better than that, Mr. I-can't-stay-out-of-the-sake...!"

The trees and the wind seemed to join in on our game, blowing just enough bright red and gold leaves onto the patio to keep me sweeping. Eventually though, I ran out of leaves and breath, from laughing so hard. Smiling I went to return the broom to its place by the door.

The cat took the opportunity to flop over onto his side huffing for breath.

Mr. Tanuma met me at the door with a broad smile. "Enjoy yourself?"

Heat filled my cheeks and I looked away. "Well, the leaves are cleared."

Mr. Tanuma nodded and continued to smile. "So I saw." He leaned close and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Is _that_...the problem?" His gaze slid toward the cat on the edge of his patio.

I winced. "Yes sir."

He blinked. "Ah, I see." He held out a plain envelope and an apple. His voice remained a whisper. "Simply say, 'I invoke thee,' and it place it somewhere out of casual sight."

I took the envelope and tucked it into my interior coat pocket, then took the apple. "Thank you, very, _very_ much." I bowed.

Mr Tanuma inclined his head. "I was honored to have your...visit, young Natsume. Feel free to visit again." He winked. "Preferably when my son is home, I'm sure Kaname would like the company."

I nodded and smiled. "I think I'd like that too, Mr. Tanuma." I bowed again. "Sorry, but, I really ought to go."

Mr. Tanuma nodded. "Yes, you probably better, before it gets too late." 

I jogged for the stairs. Just before stepping down them, I turned and waved. "Thanks again!"

Mr. Tanuma waved in reply, then turned and went back into his temple.

I started down the wide but shallow steps at a fairly quick pace.

The cat was at my side in an instant. "What did that monk give you?"

I held up the apple. "Want a bite?"

The cat shuddered. "Hell no! I won't eat anything that's been handled by a monk!"

I smiled. "Good!" I bit into the apple with gusto.

The cat shook his head and stuck out his tongue. "Disgusting...!"

Since I didn't have to disguise where I was going, I was able to take a far more direct and much shorter route home -- due west, right through town. The sun was directly in my eyes, but the sunset-stained red, gold, and violet clouds were lovely.

I was walking by a high white stone wall, about twenty minutes from the house, when I saw an interesting sight.

A female spirit was walking towards me in loud wooden sandals wearing worn antique robes and a weathered mask with one eye and two upraised curving horns. Her right hand was bandaged, but the bandages were dirty and unraveling. She walked right past me trailing a rope that was tied around her neck.

I frowned after her. "Hey, your bandage is coming undone. Want me to fix it?"

The spirit stopped but didn't turn around. "It's of no concern to you, human." She clopped away on her wooden sandals.

The cat hissed at my feet. "Don't just randomly talk to spirits, you idiot!"

I sighed. "Okay, fine." I continued toward home.

* * *

The cat was right; Mrs. Fujiwara made hot-pot that night.

Sitting at the table across from the older couple, I dug in with enthusiasm and moaned with pleasure. "This is sooo good!"

Touko smiled broadly. "Oh! Well then, eat as much as you like!"

Mr. Fujiwara, Shigure's mouth was full, so he nodded enthusiastically and waved his chopsticks. As soon as he swallowed, he pointed at the boiling pot of food in the center of the table. "Yes, eat up!" He leaned across the table and spoke in a loud stage whisper. "I married her for her cooking you know!" He winked and smiled.

Touko put on a huge fake pout.

I shook my head and smiled. "You did not." I leaned across the table to stage whisper back to Shigure. "I saw the wedding photo in the living room." I winked. "I would have married her too!"

Shigure rolled his eyes. "Okay, you got me." He turned to Touko and nodded solemnly. "I married her for her smile."

I nodded firmly. "Exactly."

Touko rolled her eyes. "Oh you two..." But her cheeks turned pink and a smile danced at the edge of her lips.

Dinner went along smoothly and rather happily. After dinner, I made sure to help clear the plates and help put away the leftovers. As soon as Touko started on the dishes, I pulled out the crisper drawer and drew out the yellow _sutra_ I had tucked into the sleeve of my sweater. I breathed on the paper in the softest whisper I could manage. "I invoke thee."

The paper gave off a bit of a flash.

I immediately slapped it against the bottom of the crisper drawer and closed it.

Touko turned around. "Is everything all right?"

I hastily closed the refrigerator, stood up, and turned around with an uneasy smile. "I just wanted to be sure nothing would fall out when it opened." Had she seen the flash? I knew for a fact that she couldn't see spirits, so it was doubtful. Just in case, I decided that _distraction_ was the better part of valor. "Would you like a hand with those dishes?"

Touko tilted her head to the side then smiled. "You are such a good boy." She nodded. "I'd love some help."

I went to the sink and took up the dishtowel to help her with a far more sincere smile. 

~ * ~


	3. Chapter 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Three ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After washing up in the kitchen, I spent the rest of my evening upstairs in my room going over my homework. Somewhere around nine, I rolled out my futon on the floor by the window and set up my blankets and pillows. It was still early, but I was more than ready to go to bed. I was exhausted from walking all the way out to the temple in Eight Fields and I had school in the morning.

Once my bed was made, I went to the small dresser against the wall opposite the door, and dug out my blue flannel pajamas. Yawning, I set my pajamas and my bathrobe over my arm then slid open the bedroom door to go take my shower.

The cat was positioned dead center in the dark wood paneled hallway, right by the stairs with his eyes narrowed and his ears flat back. Clearly, he was furious.

I frowned. "Nyanko-sensei...?"

The cat growled. "What did you _do_?"

"What?" My brows lifted. "I didn't do anything! I haven't left my room!"

The cat rose on his teeny-tiny feet and stalked toward me. "To the _refrigerator_ , brat. What did you do to the refrigerator?" 

"Hm?" Honestly, it took me a second or two to remember the _sutra._ "Ah..." I lifted my chin in a thoughtful manner. "According to the Fujiwaras, there's been a food thief. Since it wasn't them and it wasn't me, it could only be a spirit. Wouldn't you agree?" I lifted my brow, daring him to admit that it had been him.

The cat's eyes widened then he looked off to the side, clearly dodging my gaze. "A food thief, eh?" He glanced at me then looked away again. "Well, we can't be having that."

I lifted my chin and narrowed my eyes at him. "I will not have the Fujiwaras bothered in any way. I refuse to replay their kindness and generosity with trouble." I then lifted my chin and marched up the hall to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind me.

I meant what I said. I did _not_ want my interactions with the spirits to bring the Fujiwaras the grief had it brought to so many of the families I'd stayed with before. I would do anything to protect them, even at the cost of my life.

I took my shower quickly then changed into my pajamas and robe. The rooms had individual heaters that were only switched on when a room was in use, so the hallways were rather chilly in the autumn. In winter, I could see my breath. After gathering my clothes, I practically ran up the dark hall to my room and quickly closed the door to keep the heat in.

The cat was not in the hall, or in my room. My guess was that he was off pouting somewhere.

After tossing my dirty clothes in the hamper by the dresser, I made sure my alarm clock was set, then shut off the overhead light and crawled under the heavy down comforters. Warm and drowsy from the shower, and still somewhat exhausted from my long walk, I fell asleep almost instantly.

I slept deeply, but shadowed images and distorted voices haunted my dreams. The silhouettes crowded around me were faceless, but I could tell that they were of the people I had once lived with. The same words I'd heard them say before came from every mouth.

"Liar."

"There are no such things as spirits!"

"Why do you tell such creepy lies?"

"Is this your way of getting attention, you sick little boy?"

"Do you hate living here so much that you have to make up lies about ghosts and monsters?"

"Why can't you just be normal?"

They surrounded me, tall, imposing, and terrible. "We don't want you here any more. No one wants a liar in their house."

I tried to push them away, but they were so much bigger than me. "I'm not a liar! I'm not!"

They pressed even closer, their voices mixing together like a radio stuck between stations until only one word remained clear. "Liar...! Liar...! Liar...!"

I balled my fists. "I don't care if you don't want me! I don't want you either! You don't know anything -- anything at all!" I pulled back my arm to hit them as hard as I could, and...

My elbow rapped sharply in the floor. I opened my eyes to moonlight coming through my bedroom window and gasped as though surfacing from under water. I rubbed my eyes and discovered that my face was wet. I had been crying in my sleep.

I sat up in the moonlight, huddling under my blankets and took deep slow breaths to calm my madly beating heart. _It's over, that's over. I live with the Fujiwaras now and they like me. I have friends, people that smile at me and are glad to see me. The past is over. None of that matters anymore_.

Slowly, the dreams, and the memories they came from cleared away, dissolving back into the recess of my mind. However, they left behind a hollow ache that clenched around my heart and stung my eyes -- a hollow ache that had not gone away even after all this time. A feeling I knew all too well.

Loneliness.

I closed my eyes and sighed. Yes, the past was gone, and the Fujiwaras were very kind, as were so many of the people I had met in this little town. I had learned to reach out to people, to speak to them, and smile at them, but truthfully, I couldn't give my whole heart. I wanted to, very badly, but I had too many secrets -- dangerous secrets I simply couldn't share. 

I was alone in a world full of people simply because they couldn't see what I saw. They couldn't know what I knew. They couldn't believe in spirits.

I was the only one of my kind -- and I hated it.

I hated having to hide such a large part of who I was, and who I spent so much of my time with. I hated not being able to just... _talk_ to someone, anyone about what was really going on around me. So many things had happened to me in just this past year and a half, funny things, sad things, frightening things, tender things...and I couldn't share any of it with anyone.

It made me a liar in truth and I hated it, but when strange things appeared before me -- or chased after me, what could I say but, 'nothings wrong, everything's fine, my imagination is acting up again -- it's nothing.'

It...hurt. It hurt _so much_ to hold it all in and keep it to myself and just...deal with it by myself.

I covered my face, and took deep breaths, fighting to hold back the shameful, childish tears that wanted to spill. My thoughts scrambled to focus on something, _anything_ to stop the pain -- and then I found it.

I _wasn't_ alone. There was one I could share both halves of my life, the human half and the spiritual half because he was there with me, for most of it anyway -- Cat, Nyanko-sensei, _Madara_... In truth, the cat was the closest I had to a best friend even if he still threatened to eat me every now and again, and he made me fight my own battles more often than not. He knew...everything. He might not care, but he knew of my _entire_ life, human and not.

I turned to look for him. "Cat, where'd you...?"

Lying next to my futon was a piece of notebook paper marked with paw prints. A few words were scrawled on it. "Off to get a drink."

"Oh..." I sighed heavily. He'd gone drinking again and probably wouldn't come back until morning. However, the true point was -- he _would_ come back. I might be the only one of my kind, but I _wasn't_ alone -- not completely alone, anyway.

It was enough. My heart settled in my chest and though my eyes stung, the urge to weep faded. The storm was over.

It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't had that awful dream, hadn't felt the aching emptiness around my heart in a while -- a whole month, or was it two? _I must be getting...better_. It was a pleasant thought and I almost smiled -- almost.

That's when I heard the rustling in the hallway outside my door.

I looked at my door frowning. Who could be out in the hall? The rustling didn't sound like fabric, like a night robe dragging on the floor, and there was no sound of footsteps. In fact, the rustling sounded an awful lot like...paper. Could it be a spirit?

I rose from my bed and walked as silently as I could to the door. I slid the door open a little to peek out in the hall.

In the hall was a huge single sheet of paper cut into the crude and blockish shape of a man. Its head was a simple square with rectangular arms, and no hands. Its entire bottom half was nothing but a rectangle of paper. It was so big the ceiling curled it at the top and bottom, and so wide that it had to turn a little to the side to fit.

From what I could feel off of it, it was definitely some sort of spirit, but I'd never seen one that looked like a sheet of paper before.

Suddenly it stiffened. Its rectangular arms lifted and flew toward my door with a rattle.

"Shit!" I slammed the sliding door closed and held it in place.

The paper slid harshly against the outside of my door, then a corner poked through the seam, quickly followed by more.

Whatever it was, it was definitely after me. Whatever it was, I had to get it out of the house and away from the Fujiwaras! I left the door and bolted for my window. I slid the broad pane sideways, opening it as fast as I could, and jumped out onto the tiled roof. Barefoot and wearing only my pajamas, I raced across the ice-cold roof tiles to get to the fire escape ladder on the right side of the roof -- my exit and entrance to the house when dealing with spirits.

As soon as my bare feet hit the wet grass, I bolted for the woods as fast as I could. Two reasons, mainly. The first being that hopefully I’d run across the cat before that paper thing got me, and the other being that I really didn't need the neighbors reporting to the Fujiwaras that I was running around at night in nothing but my pajamas.

I dodged through the night dark trees without looking back, ignoring the stones and twigs that stabbed into my bare feet, ignoring the burning chill in my throat and lungs, ignoring the branches that whipped against me, ignoring everything, but what was right in front of my eyes. I didn't want to know how close it was -- the loud rustling right behind me let me know that it was far too close.

The ball of my foot landed on a stone that rolled and I tripped. As though in slow motion, I watched the ground rise up to meet me. Suddenly, all I could see was white and all I could hear was loud rustling.

The paper looped around me and jerked me upright, keeping me from hitting the ground, then tightened. The edges were surprisingly sharp. The winding, tightening paper cut through my pajamas and grazed my skin.

Dozen's of fine paper cuts burned all over me. The stupid thing was going to slash me to ribbons! Panicked, I threw out my hands as hard as I could and screamed. "Go away!"

There was a blinding flash and a monstrous ripping sound. 

I was thrown forward to the ground, and landed hard. I rose to my knees gasping for breath, my heart pounding so hard it hurt. I was also seeing spots from the flash and my skin stung from all the small cuts. My pajama shirt slid from my shoulders to pool at my knees in pieces. The paper had cut right through it. My pants weren't much better.

A few small pieces of paper fluttered down by my side.

Blinking the spots from my eyes, I stared at the tiny square head and arm on one of the larger pieces. The paper thing had shrunk. I still had no idea what the hell it was -- or had been.

Something moved in the bushes directly before me.

I jerked my head up in wide-eyed panic. _What now_?

A man stepped out from behind the bushes wearing a cloth sporting hat. Moonlight reflected on the oval lenses of his glasses. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his dark gray coat. It hung open and flapped at his calves. "Are you all right?"

On my hands and knees, wearing only torn pajama pants, and surrounded by shredded paper and clothing, I stared at him. Did he see what happened? _No, no way_. No one saw the things I did. He most likely only saw some strange kid tearing around in the trees -- in his pajamas. "Uh, yeah." I smiled and the lies just poured from my lips. "I'm fine. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

The man pulled his hands from his pockets and knelt down to lift a piece of the thing that had chased me. "Did you...?" He held the paper before my eyes. "See this?"

I froze wide-eyed in utter shock. _What did he say_?

He waved the paper and smiled only inches from my face. "I saw it too."

I stared at him. He... _saw it_? There was no way...! No one saw what I saw. Was this some kind of trick? "Are you saying --" My eyes narrowed. "You saw...something?"

He rose up on is feet and waved what was left of the paper man. "Yes, I am."

A shadowy mist began to rise from the paper. It formed a cloud right over his head that coalesced into a smiling spirit woman with a blindfold over her eyes and curling horns rising from her dark wavy hair. Her robes were antique in style, but clean and well kept. She chuckled. The paper disappeared.

He smiled and rubbed his empty fingers. "One might say that it was -- a spirit."

"Yeah, right." I rose to my feet not sure if I was facing a human or spirit disguised as one. "Who are you?"

"Don't recognize me? We met this afternoon." He removed his hat and his glasses to reveal sandy blond hair the exact same color as mine, cinnamon eyes and a lovely smile on a very familiar handsome face. "Shuuichi Natori."

I blinked. _The actor_?

~ * ~


	4. Chapter 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Four ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grinning, Natori stepped closer. The scant moonlight gleamed on his dark blond hair. "It was a test, of sorts. I wanted to know if you could...see. You're pretty strong spiritually, young Natsume." He leaned close, his copper gaze locked on mine, and reached out to clasp my shoulder. His breath brushed against my cheek. "I can see them too. We're the same, you and I."

I could only blink stupidly, his words repeating in my head. _The same... The same... The same..._ He could see spirits too. I _wasn't_ the only one. I wasn't alone.

Natori frowned and pulled his hand away to look at it. His fingers were smeared with something dark. "You're bleeding."

I lifted my arms and noted all the scratches, or rather the paper cuts. There were some rather long ones on my chest and stomach too. "Well, that paper was sharp." I fingered a long tear across the upper thigh of my pants and used my toe to nudge what was left of my top. "It cut right through my pajamas."

Natori turned to glare coldly at the hovering spirit, his free hand balling into a fist at his side. "I told you to be careful!"

The spirit pulled back and hissed, baring her teeth. "I _was_ careful! He's still in one piece is he not?"

I looked from one to the other. _Oh, crap...!_ The last thing I wanted to deal with was a pissed off spirit. I threw up my hands. "I'm fine! I'm fine, really! They're just scratches!"

Natori's voice dropped into a low angry rumble. A palpable wave of fury rolled off of him. "I'll deal with you later. Be gone." 

The spirit hissed and backed further away then dissolved into smoke.

Natori's fingers closed around my wrist. "I have a first aid kit in the car, but I should probably take you back to my hotel room to clean up properly."

I shook my head and waved toward the trees behind me. "I'll be fine. I live on the other side of those trees..."

Natori smiled, but his hand on my wrist tightened. "It is my fault this happened to you. Please allow me take responsibility." He tugged lightly. "Also, spirits are attracted to blood. It's best if I at least stop the bleeding before you go back into those woods."

Both were sound arguments to the point that it would have been rude to refuse. Annoyed, I turned away and tisked, then nodded. "Fine."

Natori smiled, his eyes closing in open pleasure. "Good! The car is this way." He hauled me by the wrist around the bushes where a small gray Honda sedan had been backed off the road to sit between two trees. He opened the passenger door, pushed me to sit in the open door, and then opened the back door to collect a good-sized first aid kit from the floor.

Kneeling before me in the glow from the car's interior overhead light, he opened the first aid kit and pulled out a bottle of peroxide and a box of cotton balls. Setting a cotton ball over the bottle's open mouth, he up-ended it, soaking the cotton in peroxide then frowned at me. "Are you a track runner at school?"

My brows lifted. "No, why?"

"You're very _muscular_ for a kid." He shook his head and smiled. "I thought you were delicate, but you're not at all." He dabbed peroxide on the long cut across my chest.

It stung like a bastard. I leaned back and hissed. He was right though. I looked skinny because my muscles looked like wires instead of proper muscles. Several kids in my class were bulkier than I was. However, I could hit harder than any of them.

A lie about doing a lot of yard work was ready on my tongue, when I realized that I didn't have to lie. He _knew_. "I do a lot of running." I took a breath to steady my nerves. It was strangely difficult to admit the truth. I looked away. "From spirits."

Natori nodded and dabbed at the cut on my shoulder. "I figured that, but I've never seen a fifteen-year old with this much muscle." He smiled. "You look like a seasoned athlete."

I snorted. "That's because I'm not fifteen, I'm seventeen."

He stilled, cotton ball upraised, then lifted his eyes to mine, his smile evaporating. "You're seventeen?" He frowned. "Aren't you in your first year of high school?"

I winced. One of my classmates among in his fan club must have said something to him. I shrugged very casually. "I'm two grades behind."

"I see." He gave me a small tight smile, rose up on know knee and wiped a cut on my upper arm. "Hard to concentrate on your studies with spirits at the windows, hm?"

I nodded but didn't look away. "Yeah." The truth was it was hard to concentrate when the people you were living with were whispering about getting rid of you loud enough for you to hear them. Studying seemed of little importance compared to wondering when you were going to be passed to someone else -- or if _this_ was the family that would kick you out into the streets.

He rose to his feet and set one knee on the seat between my knees, then dabbed at a cut on my shoulder. "The spirits have given you quite a difficult time." The warm breath from his softly spoken words brushed my shoulder.

The hairs rose on the back of my neck and I shivered. He was so close I could feel the heat rolling off his body. I could smell the soap he used in his hair and something else, something...musky, but not unpleasant. It made my heart pound with a combination of unease and a strange sort of anticipation. "Not the spirits so much as the people who can't see them."

"I understand that very well indeed." Right next to my ear he whispered. "Ah, this cut is proving difficult." He wiped at a cut on my neck, but the touch wasn't soft and damp. It didn't feel like a cotton ball with peroxide at all. It was dry and smooth. It rasped against my skin and it didn't sting. 

I frowned. It hadn't feel like cotton, it'd felt like...paper.

His other hand closed on my opposite shoulder and his voice dropped into an even softer whisper. "Let me see if I can get this one to close." Hot breath washed against my skin then a warm wet stroke by what could only be his tongue against my throat.

I gasped in shock and tried to jerk away, but I was trapped by the back of the seat on one side, his face on the other, and his body right in front of me. Other than lying straight back, there was no place to go. I turned to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing.

His mouth brushed mine, then his tongue swept across my lips.

Shock froze me in place. _Was that a...kiss?_ I grabbed onto his coat to push him back and opened my mouth to yell.

His hand slid up to cup the back of my head and his tongue surged beyond my parted lips to explore the length and breadth of my tongue.

He _was_ kissing me -- deliberately! It wasn't...unpleasant. In fact, it was kind of...stirring, but it wasn't something one did with a near-perfect stranger on the second meeting. In fact, it wasn't something I'd ever done at all, never mind with a _guy_. Hot embarrassment fought with the strangest feeling that I should let him... _keep_ kissing me. I wanted him to stop, but at the same time, something inside me was burning with curiosity.

Before I even realized what I was doing, my tongue reached out to stroke his in return. He tasted of fresh water, a touch of some strange and interesting musk, and a hint of copper, of blood -- my blood.

He moaned into my mouth, a strangely thrilling vibration. His lips closed to capture my tongue and then he suckled.

A tingling wave of heat spilled straight down into my groin, which began to fill and tighten. A soft and somewhat...anxious sound left my throat. I was getting...excited. _He_ was exciting me. I knew I should make him stop, but it was strangely difficult to _want_ to stop.

He reached down to cup my groin, his palm sliding across my balls and the erection beginning to tent my loose pajama pants. His fingers, hot and firm, closed around my dick then slid up. His thumb rubbed against the flared edge.

A wave of raw urgency stiffened every muscle in my body and shocked me breathless. I'd never felt anything so powerful, so _insistent_ , as this hideous need to push further into his hand, and keep pushing until I spilled myself. It was as though my mind had become secondary to what my body wanted, as though my body were a thing apart from the rest of me -- as though I were possessed.

Ice cold fear washed through my veins. I shoved hard with both fists in his coat, pushing him from me, separating our tongues, and lips, forcing his hand to withdraw from my dick. My face hot with embarrassment, I glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

Natori lifted his brow and licked his lips. "Kissing you." He smiled, but his eyes were narrowed and the center dilated wide. "Nice to know the attraction goes both ways."

 _Bastard_...! I narrowed my gaze and my lips curled back from my teeth. "I'm leaving. Get out of my way."

Natori snorted and nodded downward, his gaze pointedly fixing on my crotch and the tent in my loose pants. "Wouldn't you rather stay and let me help you with that?"

My body stiffened with greedy urgency, my dick actually twitching in my pants. Yes, I _wanted_ to stay. I _wanted_ him to...touch me, but I didn't -- _couldn't_ trust him. I didn't know what he really wanted from me, beyond the obvious. I had learned through cold hard experience that what seemed obvious was rarely reality. Shivering with frustration, I curled my lip in a show of anger and told him the truth. "I don't _know_ you."

Natori smiled cheerfully. "I'm offering to fix that."

I snorted in derision. "You're offering to _seduce_ me." My brow lifted. "But you haven't told me why."

"Seduce...?" He frowned slightly. "Now where'd you hear that old-fashioned word?"

I'd heard it from the spirit Hinoe who enjoyed tricking girls into...sleeping with her, but that was beside the point. The point was that Natori hadn't answered my not so subtle question about his intentions. In fact, he'd bypassed it entirely, reinforcing my suspicions that he was definitely after something _other_ than...me. Was it the _Book of Friends_?

I pasted a smile on my lips, well aware that it did not reach my eyes. "Thank you for your kind offer, but I'm afraid I must decline." It was a very formal and extremely polite phrase Cat had taught me to use with dangerous spirits who made dubious offers. 

Natori's eyes widened. "Good lord that sounded positively antique. Are you into classical literature?"

My smile evaporated and I barely bit back a growl of annoyance. Clearly, subtlety did not work on this man. "I'm into the truth! Either tell me what you're really after, or get the hell out of my way." My fists clenched at my sides. If I had to punch him in the head to get him to back off, I'd happily do it.

Natori dropped his chin with a sigh, then rose to feet and stepped back. "Fine, fine..."

I immediately slid out of the car to stand in the open doorway. I was shamefully aware that my dick was still tenting my pants, but I resisted the urge to cover my crotch. Of far more importance was that I was free to make a quick escape if I needed to. I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm waiting."

Natori's lips turned slightly downward and his copper gaze slipped away from mine. "Before I say anything else, I want you to know that my attraction to you is genuine. I just got a little...over excited." He pointed down at the bulge in his khaki pants.

I rolled my eyes. He'd avoided the subject _again_. I shot him a glare. "And...?"

Natori took in a breath then smiled. "And I want you to assist me with my side-job."

I frowned in confusion. "Assist you in...acting?"

Natori snorted and his lips curled up on one side. "No. I'm a part-time exorcist and I could use an assistant who can actually see the spirits I deal with."

 _Exorcist_? I blinked up at him. "You don't look like a Buddhist monk, or a Shinto priest?"

Natori grinned and shrugged. "Because I'm not."

My brow lifted. Another subtle question he'd avoided. If he wasn't a Buddhist monk, or a Shinto priest, what was he? I shook my head slightly. "I don't know anything about...exorcism."

"I can teach you!" Natori took a step closer. "You have the power and you have the sight. I'd just have to teach you the rituals and invocations, plus a few other useful things." He held out his hands. "We're two of a very rare kind, natural allies. We should work together."

 _Two of a kind... I'm not alone_... The urge to take his outstretched hands was so strong I placed my hands in his before I'd even realized I'd done so.

Natori's fingers closed fiercely around mine. "I want you." His smile tightened and he spoke with quiet intensity. "I want you for my assistant, and for my lover. We are the same, we belong together."

It was hard to breathe past the heat rolling off his hands and body, never mind hold a lucid thought in my head, but I was determined. "And nothing else?" I needed to know if he was after the _Book of Friends_. "You want nothing else from me?"

Natori's brow lifted and a smile lifted his lips. "Isn't that enough?"

That side-stepping bastard! I needed to hear him _say_ it. I needed to hear him say that he wasn't after the _Book of Friends_!

Cat was constantly lecturing me on the importance of being specific in a spoken agreement with anyone with power -- spirit or human. " _Leave nothing to chance! Politeness can too easily bind you into giving up more than you realize -- including your life!_ " 

I dug my fingers into his hand, my nails biting into his skin, and bared my teeth in a snarl. "Answer the damned question!"

Natori winced. "Ow... No, I want nothing else from you."

"Good." I loosened my fingers on his hand. Relief made my knees wobble and I sagged a bit.

"Takashi?" Natori's arm looped around to catch me, and pulled me up against his sinfully warm body within his open coat. His warm palm spread on my bare back and he blinked. "Your skin is ice cold."

I snorted and grabbed the sleeves of his coat to keep from falling over. "Gee, you think...? You're in a coat. I'm out here in only my pajama bottoms, and who gave you permission to use my first name?"

Natori's hands left me to shrug out of his coat. A moment later, he whisked the warm body-heated wool around my shoulders and closed his arms around me. He smiled. "If we are going to be lovers, don't you think I'm entitled to using your given name?"

"Who said _we_ \--?"

Viper-fast, he ducked his head. His mouth took mine, his hot, wet tongue slipping past my parted lips to engage mine in a kiss that was far closer to an attack. His arm closed vice-tight around my waist and one hand slid up to the back of my head to grip my hair.

A wave of hungry heat washed through me to scatter every thought in my head. I grabbed onto his shirt and my body arched up against his belly to belly, _want_ , _need_ , and _urgency_ rampaging through me. A moan emerged from my throat.

I couldn’t even imagine pushing him away.

~ * ~


	5. Chapter 5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Five ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without halting his kiss, Natori stepped up against me, and pushed.

Drowning in his body heat, his musky clean scent, and his hungry kisses, I was too dazed to think to resist. Step by step, I was forced back, until my butt made contact with the hood of his car.

Natori's lips left mine to slide across my jaw to my throat, licking, nipping, and inducing shivers that had nothing to do with cold, and everything to do with heat. His hand left my hair to slide down my chest, then down my belly to my erection. He whispered hoarsely, his breath hot against my neck. "Let me give you what you need, what we both need." His fingers closed around me.

Lust burned in my balls and made my aching dick lurch in his hand. With a hoarse moan, I arched back and my hips bucked, stroking myself in his hand.

"Yes..." Natori dropped to his knees before me, yanked my pants to my knees, and sucked my dick straight into his mouth.

The pleasure and shock was so fierce, I gasped out a soft choking cry, and my knees tried to buckle. I curled over him, grabbing onto his shoulders to keep from falling over.

His hand snaked between my thighs to finger my balls, rolling them and gently squeezing them while his tongue lashed the bottom of my cock.

His hot wet mouth and massaging hand felt so incredible, my mind flashed white. I spread my shaking legs to give him room. Sounds fell from my mouth, needy desperate sounds, and I didn't care. I was going to cum and cum hard -- right in his mouth. 

His fingers formed a tight right around the base of my cock, right up against my balls.

The urge to cum didn't stop, it pulsed hard against his fingers -- and washed back into my balls where it throbbed viciously. A hoarse cry left my lips and tears of frustration spilled down my cheeks.

He chuckled with my dick in his mouth, a very strange vibration, then released me from his mouth with an obscenely wet sound. "So impatient." With his fingers closed tight around me, he smiled and licked from the base of my dick all the way up to the flared edge of the crown. "Don't worry, I'll let you cum. Just not yet." The tip of his tongue flicked the wet slit at the top -- intensifying the urgency.

My balls tightened and my dick throbbed viciously. A small choking cry left my throat. It was too much yet not enough. I fell back onto the car hood and rose up on my toes, lifting my ass in an attempt to thrust up into his mouth.

Natori pulled back, his hand leaving my balls, leaving my dick dripping wet, violently hard, and throbbing. He rose to his feet with a predator's smile. "I've only just begun to teach you pleasure." His hands closed on my upper arms and his mouth took mine in a brutal and thorough kiss. His mouth slid from mine, across my jaw, down my throat to the muscle of my shoulder where he delivered an open-mouthed sucking bite.

Deliciously hot and cold tingles spilled down my spine. It was a physical pleasure I wasn't used to, but it didn't hold quite the terrifying brain-blanking animal urgency that sucking my dick delivered. It was almost a relief. I shivered and tilted my head back.

Tenderly biting, his mouth, and teeth wandered to the ball of my shoulder. He encouraged me to turn until my back was to him. His bites scored across the back of my shoulders to the base of my neck. His whispered breath washed against the wet patches of skin he left behind. "You are so delicious." His blunt nails scored down my back. His mouth followed, biting and licking down my spine. "So tender... So sweet..." Behind me, Natori dropped to his knees. "I wanted to devour you from the first moment you fell into my arms." His tongue wriggled in the small indentations at the small of my back, then opened wide to deliver a pleasurably aggressive bite to my right butt-cheek.

Abruptly that fierce urgency was back. I fell forward onto the hood of his car, landing on my elbows with a muffled thump.

His hands cupped my ass, tilting it up, his knees spreading my legs wider. "God your ass is perfect." His lips, his tongue, and his heated breath washed across my balls to nibble on the delicate seam right below my anus. His tongue moved up to circle my anus.

I was suddenly pleased I'd not only taken a shower, but had soaked in the tub too. In short, I was clean...there.

His tongue on my anus felt good -- insanely, tingly, deliciously, good. I couldn’t help but shudder and push back against his tongue in raw animal reaction. Moans and gasps exploded from my lips.

Natori lifted his mouth and hands from me.

"Eh...?" I leaned up on my elbows and looked over my shoulder. "What...?"

From his pocket, Natori pulled out a small plastic squeeze tube of what appeared to be some kind of clear gel. He squeezed a bit onto his hands and rubbed his palms together. He smiled and winked. "This will make things feel a whole lot better."

I frowned in confusion. "Better?"

"Absolutely." He reached down between my legs to grasp my achingly hard cock with his gel-slicked hand and _stroked_.

It was almost better than his mouth, wetter and tighter. I fell forward on the hood of his car groaning.

Abruptly something small, wet, and stiff pushed at my anus. It felt like...a finger.

I stiffened in alarm. Make no mistake, I already knew from classmates and some of my less savory relatives about men that liked to fuck boys. "What are you doing?" My voice came out shamefully breathless.

His breath brushed my ass cheeks. "Do you want to cum?"

Despite the sparks of alarm skittering through me, I was practically sobbing with desperation. "Yes, but..."

"Then push out against my finger. It will open your body to me."

I arched my back in rejection. "I don't want...that." No way in hell did I want anything up my ass!

Natori snorted. "It's just my finger."

I turned to glare at him from over my shoulder. "Have you ever had someone shove a finger up _your_ ass?"

"Yes." Natori's brow lifted and he smiled sourly. "In fact, I'm rather...experienced with anal sex."

My mouth fell open and my brows lifted in astonishment. "You did... _that_?"

His focus slid to my butt and his palms rubbed my ass cheeks. "It's...intense and it makes you very...erect. It also makes you cum harder than anything else ever will."

Despite my misgivings, it sounded more than a little...tempting.

He ducked his head and his tongue replaced his finger, poking and prodding wetly while his other hand stroked my rigid cock.

Tingles spilled up my back, and a moan escaped me. Gods, I wanted to cum, so bad...!

His finger returned to my anus and he spoke in a deep rumble that somehow vibrated up my spine to the back of my head. "Push out and let me in."

I held my breath. My anus actually twitched against his finger. I wanted to try it but...

His voice dropped to a whisper. "Trust me, you _will_ find it enjoyable."

I dropped my head and pushed out with a soft groan. My body opened.

His slick finger slid in to the knuckle.

I gasped in surprise.

Natori stilled, his finger deep, but unmoving. "Does it hurt?"

It didn't hurt at all, but it _was_...strange. I had to suck in a breath to speak and my voice came out shamefully small. "No."

He swirled it around, delivering the strangest tingling sensations. "How does this feel?”

My body began to tremble, but whether it was from fear or excitement -- I couldn't tell. "Okay, I guess."

"And this?" Within me, his finger angled up, and pressed firmly.

A small lightning bolt of almost cold intensity detonated throughout my hips and sparked up my spine to the back of my skull. My dick swelled to brutal rigidity and a small spat of cum slid free. For a moment, I only saw white and a choking cry escaped my lips. I writhed in sheer reaction.

Natori chuckled softly. "Good?"

The stars before my eyes cleared and I panted for breath. "I don't...know." And I didn't. It had been too intense to be simply _good_.

"How about this?" His finger moved again, only this time he _rubbed_. At the same time, he stroked my cock.

More of that intense electrical feeling blazed in my gut, and flashed in my brain, making the hair rise all over my body. I gasped in a breath only to moan it right back out. A string of cum oozed from my aching cock. I'd never been so hard in my life. What he was doing felt painfully close to an orgasm, but not quite. It wasn't _enough_. I ground back onto Natori’s hand for more.

His tongue briefly caressed my ass. "Harder?"

I spread my legs wider. "Yes!"

"Alright." Another finger was insinuated slowly into my ass, stretching me wider. While he slowly stroked my cock, both fingers rubbed back and forth over, and over, and over that one painfully sweet spot.

Electric sparks danced through my body and my eyes tried to roll back into my head. I barely noticed that I was loosing moan after gasping moan, or the long string of cum that dribbled from my aching cock.

A third slick finger was added to my ass, the pace of his finger and his hand still slow and even.

My ass felt stretched wide open, but the lightning jolts pulsing in my gut and the insistent throbbing in my cock blotted everything else from my mind. Oh Gods, the bastard had been right. I'd been excited before, but this time I was near tears with the need to cum. If he just went a little faster and a little harder... I pushed back onto his fingers, then bucked forward into his palm, literally fucking myself between his hands to encourage him.

His hand tightened painfully on my cock, forcing me to go at his slow pace.

My entire body shook in frustration and my eyes watered. My moans rose in pitch until they sounded an awful lot like whimpers. "Natori, please...?"

"Shuuichi." His fingers continued their maddeningly slow rub. "My name is Shuuichi, Takashi."

It was a concession I didn't want to give, but I wanted to cum! I _needed_ to cum! I was so damned close! A sound horribly close to a whine came out of my mouth. "Shuuichi damn it, do it harder, gods, _please_!"

“Alright.” He pulled his hands free.

I moaned in abject disappointment. “Don’t stop…!”

Natori snorted. A zipper sounded and fabric rustled. “Don't worry. I have no intention of stopping now.” He pressed something against my anus that was hot, hard, slippery with oil, and much thicker than his finger. “Push out hard, and keep pushing.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. "Is that your...?"

Natori grabbed my left hip, his fingers biting in, and leaned over my back. His voice growled deep and low. “Is that my cock? Yes. If you want to cum, open for me and I will make you cum hard enough to scream.” The pressure increased against my anus, his cock nudging its way in with a sharp ache.

A pained moan left my throat. I pushed almost out of reflex. The sharpness disappeared. I groaned in sheer relief and writhed.

Natori's hot and painfully rigid cock slid deep into me, stretching me, filling me, delivering a completely different type of ache. Natori stroked my sweating spine and his hot breath whispered at the back of my neck. "You feel so good around my cock. You're sucking me in so deep." He rolled his hips. Suddenly pressure was applied to that delicious spot deep within.

Intense raw pleasure blazed through me. I choked and a deep-throated moan was dragged from my throat.

"Yes, that feels good, doesn’t it, Takashi?" Natori eased back, his cock withdrawing partway from my ass, sparking delicious little tingles throughout my bowels.

My breath left me in a rush. That actually felt kind of…nice.

The cock drove back in slowly… pressure-- _pleasure_.

I choked out a soft cry.

"Oh yes, you like that, don't you?" A slow retreat, a slightly swifter return…pressure-- _pleasure_.

I cried out a little louder, and writhed.

His fingers tangled in my hair. "You like being fucked." He tugged on my hair, forcing my head up. _"Don't you?"_ Retreat, return a little quicker and a little harder…pressure-- _rapture!_

"Yes!" I wailed out and bucked back to meet his next stroke.

Slam -- pressure-- _ecstasy!_ I screamed.

"Good boy." Natori then proceeded to fuck me over the hood of his car with swift sharp strokes. His hot breath spilled against my sweat-soaked back while his hands gripped my hips with bruising strength, dragging me back into each pounding thrust into my ass again and again, faster, _harder..._

The sound of wet flesh slapping loudly against wet flesh filled my ears. I could feel his cock, the whole length of it, driving into me over, and over, and over delivering an intense carnal pleasure that burned in my balls, my belly, and up my spine all the way to the back of my skull.

And I loved it.

I gripped the coat under my belly with whitened knuckles and shamelessly shoved back to meet each violent thrust, drowning in that wicked intensity that was far closer to pain than pleasure.

Between hard grunts, his panting breaths spilled across my shoulders. "Gods, your ass was made for cock."

Far too quickly, my balls tightened and my rhythm went sporadic. I was going to cum, and cum hard.

Abruptly, he slowed. "What's my name?"

I moaned and writhed. "No...!"

He taunted me with a shallow thrust. "My name, Takashi, say it."

I trembled. I didn't want to, but I was right on the edge of cumming. "Shuuichi."

He leaned over my back and whispered against my ear. "Yes, now say it again." He thrust, hard.

Ecstasy burned through me and I gasped. "Shuuichi!"

He groaned. "Mm-hmm... Good boy. Again." He thrust.

White lightning flashed through me and I shouted. " _Shuuichi!_ "

He leaned over my back. "Good, now cum for me!" He rammed straight into that spot deep inside over and over, then bit down on my shoulder viciously hard.

Violent and brutal rapture exploded within me. I screamed. " _Shuuichi_!" The indignity didn’t even register. I was too busy screaming my lungs out. I was only vaguely aware that my violently hard and untouched cock was spurting rope after rope of thick cum all over the coat beneath me, emptying my balls along with my mind.

The pleasure _lingered_. I writhed on my belly, to make it last even longer not caring that I was lying in my own cum.

A powerful thrust slammed into me, then another… Once more, he slammed in deep then held, groaning. Deep in my ass, there was a pulsing throb and then hot wetness jetting inside me. With a soft groan, Natori pulled back.

Suddenly, I was empty save for the thick hot liquid slowly trickling down my crack to drip down my balls.

Hands cupped my ass-cheeks, parting them. He was clearly staring at his cum leaking from my ass.

I pushed to roll over onto my back. It took far more effort than I expected, but I succeeded. My ass throbbed. I groaned.

Natori already had himself tucked away and his pants zipped. He leaned forward and caught me under the elbow.

I slid off the car and my knees tried to buckle. I grabbed onto the car behind me to keep from falling.

Natori grabbed me around the waist. His hand tilted my chin up and his mouth covered mine. His tongue swept in briefly, then he released me with a smile. "I enjoyed that very much." His smile sharpened into a smirk. "I look forward to our next time."

I got my hands between us and pushed back from his arms to stand back on trembling legs. With the echoes of ecstasy still washing through me, it was hard to glare at him, but somehow I managed. I wanted to say, 'there won't be a next time.' It was on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't make the words come out of my mouth.

Instead, I reached down to grab my abandoned pajama pants, slid them on, then turned my back and walked away from him, leaving him without saying a word.

Somehow, I made it home. My hands trembled while I climbed the fire escape ladder, and my walk across the roof tiles was a bit more precarious than usual, but I made through my window and into my room without making any noise.

The cat still hadn't returned.

Dead tired, I grabbed some fresh pajamas and snuck down the hall to take a long hot shower. I had always enjoyed the fact that the showerhead was removable, little more than a handle that hooked to the wall, but that night I was downright grateful.

I fell into bed and passed out.

~ * ~


	6. Chapter 6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Six ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The alarm went off far too soon, and far too loudly. I sat up and my entire body protested -- especially my butt.

The cat still hadn't returned.

I dragged myself out of bed and down the hall to brush my teeth. My first glimpse in the bathroom mirror made me flinch -- and lock the bathroom door. Along with a multitude of long scratches, black and violet sucker bites covered my shoulders. The one on my left shoulder was particularly large with extremely visible teeth marks. It ached nastily.

Those marks weren't the only part of me aching -- and burning. Desperate for any kind of relief, I dug out the aloe burn gel from the first aid kit. It relieved the burning in my...butt, and some of the swelling too. I was actually able to stand fully upright and walk normally, mostly. On a whim, I tucked the tube into my pajama pocket, thinking that it might be a good idea to have it on me while I was at school.

I rushed back to my room to dress before anyone could see the marks on me. That's when I discovered that there were small round bruises on my wrists and on my thighs too -- finger bruises. I thanked the gods that it was autumn. The winter uniform for school was long sleeved and high collared. I fastened it all the way up to my throat.

I made sure to tuck the aloe gel in my pants pocket.

I ate my breakfast oatmeal in a daze and barely remembered to grab my book bag before I headed from the front alcove to put on my shoes and go.

Touko trotted after me. "Takashi! Takashi, don't forget your lunch!"

Standing before the front door, I turned to take the napkin-wrapped bento box from her with a smile. "Oh, thank you."

Her cool hand pressed against my cheek and her mouth turned down, her brows knitting. "You don't look so well. There are dark circles under your eyes. Maybe you should stay home?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm okay." I was determined to go to school and keep up my grades. I wanted to make them proud of me, and happy that they'd accepted me into their lives. "I'm just tired."

She smiled a little. "You've been studying so hard." She smiled a little brighter. "Maybe a little too hard?" Her glance went to the clock in the alcove. "Oh dear, you better hurry or you're going to be late!"

I gave her a quick cheery smile "I'm leaving, then." I rushed out the door. Running was just a bit more painful than I was willing to deal with, so I walked as quickly as I could. I made it to class in time, but that's when my real misery began.

I discovered one of the nastier side-effects from...my evening activities half-way through first period. Apparently, I was still a little too...open to hold anything... _in_ for very long. Right in the middle of the teacher's lecture, I bolted to the front of the room, snatched the bathroom pass from its post by the door, and practically ran down the hall.

I was _very_ grateful that I stuck to plain oatmeal that morning. I was even more grateful that I'd thought to bring the gel.

When I returned twenty minutes later, my first period teacher blinked at me, but didn't say anything. I guess that when I ran out I must have looked like it had been a real emergency.

Sitting on my abused butt in class proved to be a lot more uncomfortable than I expected. By the end of the second hour, I was leaning to one side or the other just to relieve some of the itching ache. On top of that, the bone-deep exhaustion pulling at me made it very difficult to pay attention. I was able to force the... _events_ from last night to the back of my mind, but the shock of meeting someone that could actually see spirits the way I could, of _not_ being the only one, was much harder to dislodge.

Natori's words kept playing over and over in my head. " _I want you. I want you as my assistant and my lover. We are the same. We belong together_. _We are the same. The same... The same..."_

Somehow, I made it all the way to lunch period without anyone saying anything about how badly I was distracted -- or how oddly I was sitting.

At my desk, I opened my lunch box and stared at the contents: rice, tuna, garden vegetables... It looked delicious. My stomach growled loudly. However, I seriously considered not eating. I didn't want to run to the bathroom again. I closed the box with a wistful sigh. Maybe if I just drank some milk, that would tide me over until I got home? I didn't have a problem with _liquids_.

Nishimura leaned over my desk, plopped down on his elbows, and frowned. "Aren't you going to eat?"

I looked up at him and tried to smile. "I'm not--" My stomach burbled with volume announcing my lie. I winced. "I'm not...feeling too good today."

Nishimura snorted and smiled. "Yeah, I kind of figured that with the way you ran out of the room first period."

My face burned. I ducked my head to hide behind my long bangs.

Nishimura's near constant companion, tall and laid-back Kitamoto leaned over my shoulder. "Stomach bug?"

Nishimura snickered. "I'd say it was lower than that."

Another guy stopped at my desk. "Oh, diarrhea?"

I couldn't look up, but I wasn't about to let that one slide. "No, not _that_."

Kitamoto hummed and nodded. "But your butt hole, eh?" He smiled blithely. "It's the way you're sitting."

Shock drained the blood from my face. Was it _that_ obvious that I'd had sex with a man?

Kitamoto shrugged. "My dad gets hemorrhoids once in a while." His brow lifted. "I think you need to change whatever you're sitting on while you're studying."

He _didn't_ know. I almost fainted with relief.

Nishimura grinned. "I told you that you were doing way too much studying, dude."

I was thrilled that they had no idea what was really going on with me, but that didn't make their discussion any less embarrassing. Burning with humiliation, I rose from my desk in far too much haste. I barely held back my wince. "I'm going to get some--" I couldn't say _milk_ \-- only little kids drank milk. "Something to drink." I turned on my heel, and walking ram-rod straight, I marched out into the window-lined hall toward the stairs and the small cafeteria on floor down.

Getting two half-pints of milk from the jam-packed cafeteria was easy. No one even noticed me. I was so hungry, I sucked one down before I'd even made it back to the stairs. By the time I reached the second floor hallway, I was almost finished with the second. It wasn't exactly...filling, I was still hungry, but my stomach stopped burning -- and growling.

However, my mind continued to go in circles.

Why the hell, had Natori sought me out? Why bother testing me with that paper-demon of his? Why go so far out of his way to...seduce me? Did he do...such things regularly? Would I ever see him again? Did I _want_ to see him again? Did he really want an assistant or was it just a convenient excuse to get into my pants? Why the hell did he even _want_ to get into my pants? Why the hell did I _let_ him into my pants? Was it all just some elaborate joke? What if he was serious? What do I say to Nyanko-sensei? Should I warn the Fujiwaras about him? Why did he want... _me_?

Only a few doors down from my classroom, I suddenly realized that there were an awful lot of people in the hallway, or rather pressed up against the windows. It was mostly girls, but the occasional guy was there too. They were apparently watching something outside.

A soft masculine voice spoke at my side. "Oi, Natsume, are you all right?"

I practically jumped out of my skin and turned to face dark-haired, dark-eyed KanameTanuma, the only other person who had even close to my abilities. I had been so preoccupied had hadn't even noticed him. I barely held back my wince. _Get your shit together!_ I took a deep breath and gave him a shaky smile. "Uh... Hi, Tanuma."

He frowned. "Are you running a fever? You're flushed."

I didn't have a fever, but with my collar buttoned to my throat, I was more than a little warm. I shook my head and forced a brighter smile to my lips. "I'm fine."

One of the girls against the window grabbed another girl. "Hey, down by the gate, doesn't that look like that actor?"

The girl that was grabbed peered through the glass. "Oh! Yeah, he does! He looks like Shuuichi Natori!"

My heart clenched in my chest. _It couldn't be... He wouldn't come here_! As though dragged by some unseen force, I found myself looking out the window.

Standing by the school gate was none other than Shuuichi Natori in a white polo shirt under a tweed jacket with brown casual slacks. Bathed in sunlight, his hair shown burnished gold.

Tanuma slid in beside me. "Oh, it _is_ Shuuichi Natori."

I looked over at Tanuma in shock. "You know him?"

Tanuma snorted. "Even I watch TV, idiot." He coughed. "In my room." His gaze drifted back to the school gate. "Something about him..." He shook his head. "I don't like him. He's creepy."

My blood chilled. "Creepy, as in...ghosts?" Did Tanuma feel that way about me too?

Tanuma glanced at me and blinked. "No." He snorted. "Creepy, as in: _pervert_." His gaze drifted back out the window. "He looks like one of those that would tempt you with candy then drag you into a car."

I was suddenly reminded of what had been done to me -- over the hood of Natori's car. A cold shiver ran down my spine. Tanuma was either a hell of a lot more sensitive than I gave him credit for, or a _really_ good guesser. My gaze slipped back out the window to the man below.

For some ungodly reason, Natori's gaze found mine out of hundreds. He smiled sweet as sugar and waved. I swear the air sparkled and bloomed around him.

And then I felt it -- a pull. Deep in my gut near the base of my balls, it felt as though a line had been attached and it was _pulling_ me -- toward him. I had once been curse-marked by a hideous monster that intended to eat me, but it hadn't pulled, it had simply weakened me until it could come get me. This was completely different. It honestly felt like I was wearing some sort of leash -- around my dick.

I jerked back from the window and rolled to the side to press my back against the wall between the windows more than a little panicked and very confused.

The pull suddenly changed. It became a pressure directly on that place Natori had stimulated while we were...having sex. Then it became a massage, for lack of a better description, like a finger rubbing against that same place.

To my utter mortification, heat began to spiral into my gut with hideous speed -- and into my dick. The leash, was making me hard right there in the crowded hallway. I was pitifully thankful that my uniform jacket went down to my thighs or it would have been _very_ obvious.

Tanuma turned around to face me. "Natsume?" He frowned. "What's wrong?" He leaned closer and his voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Did you see something?"

He was almost a full head taller than me so I had to look up at him. His shoulders were amazingly wide. His ink dark eyes filled my view, his scent; warm body and soap, filled my nose. The throbbing in my pants became pronounced and it became difficult to take a full breath. I found myself noticing that his hair was a glossy blue-black. I also noticed that his face was well made with high cheekbones, flawless skin, and soft full lips. I wondered what it would feel like to...kiss them.

Tanuma's gaze dropped below my chin and focused. His brows snapped close together, a wrinkle forming between them and his lips curved downward. "Natsume..."

At the sound of my name, I snapped out of my daze as though slapped. Cold shock spilled through me. I'd actually been thinking about _kissing_ Tanuma! "I uh... I gotta...go!" I scooted out from under Tanuma's shadow and hurried for the boy's john. I had to get rid of my...problem, and fast. It was making think weird things.

"Natsume...!" Tanuma grabbed for me.

Alarmed, I ducked his hand and ran. Just _looking_ at him made me think strange things. The gods only knew what would happen -- what I might try to do to him, if he actually touched me!

"Oi!" Tanuma lunged after me.

Dazed from lack of sleep, and stupid from panic, I ran right past my classroom. I was three doors beyond it before I even realized it. When I did, I skidded to a stop to backtrack.

Coming down the hall at break-neck speed with his jaw set and his eyes narrowed in stubborn determination, Tanuma passed my room heading straight for me. "Natsume, damn it...!"

My eyes widened in shock. _Oh, shit_! Tanuma was supposed to be the _quiet_ one! Why the hell was he chasing me? I turned and bolted down the hallway. I was a fast runner, I'd had plenty of practice, but this wasn't outdoors. My options were severely limited. The little two-story school only had so many hallways. I took a random corner -- and found myself in a dead end.

Tanuma whipped around the corner and spotted me. He slowed to a walk gasping for breath.

I wasn't even winded. If I had enough space, clearly I'd outdistance him. The trick was getting more space to run. I eyed the hallway to either side of him. Perhaps I could slip past him...?

Tanuma straightened with his mouth curled, and his jaw set in open anger. He set his hands on is hips. "Damn it Natsume, tell me what's wrong! You don't have to handle everything by yourself!"

Tanuma wanted to help me with my erection? The very idea was so silly, a laugh bubbled up. "You can't help with this, Tanuma."

Tanuma stalked closer. "How can you be so sure? I'll believe you, you know that!"

I shook my head. "It has nothing to do with--" I nodded toward the row of windows on the right. "Them."

Tanuma scowled and kept walking towards me. The sunlight pouring through the windows made his hair gleam with blue. "Then what _is_ the problem?"

I heaved a sigh and threw up my hands. "Tanuma, it's personal okay?"

He bared his teeth. "You can talk to my dad, but you can't talk to _me_?"

All amusement evaporated. "I went to your dad for a _sutra_ , okay? _This_ is nothing like that."

Tanuma's hands dropped from his hips. He rolled his eyes and tisked in obvious annoyance. "Natsume, I just--"

The school bell sounded, announcing the two minute warning before class began.

I sagged in relief. _Saved!_ I walked toward him with a smile. "Look, we can talk about this later if you like, but for now we should really go back to class." Personally, I intended to hit the john to get rid of my still rather urgent...condition.

Tanuma's jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

I shimmied past him, careful not to brush against him

"Natsume..." Tanuma's hand landed on my left shoulder -- right on the bite.

The sharp ache from the bruise was more startling than painful, but I hissed and winced out from under his hand just the same.

He whirled and grabbed me by the upper arm. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Unfortunately, from just that small amount of contact, heat began to curl and tighten in my gut making my dick ache. I yanked against his hold, the same old lies on my tongue. "I'm fine, it's nothing."

His fingers bit into my arm. "It's _not_ nothing! You're obviously hurt."

I glared up at him. "Tanuma, we have to get back to class."

His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. "Show me."

My eyes widened. _Show_ him my sucker bites? I sucked in a breath and all I could smell was...Tanuma, and Gods he smelled...exciting. Something deep and low pulsed hungrily. I wanted... I wanted his cock -- inside me, very badly. I twisted to break out of his hold. "No!" I needed to get away from him!

"Fine." He pulled back and swung me around, then grabbed the back collar of my coat. "Then I'll see for myself." He shoved, propelling me into the empty classroom at the end of that deserted, dead end hall.

~ * ~


	7. Chapter 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Seven ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The classroom room Tanuma shoved me into was empty and apparently unused. The walls were bare and the student desks were all piled up against the wall between the forward and rear doors. The curtains over the windows had been pulled closed.

Tanuma slid the door closed with his elbow and shoved me toward the only other piece of furniture in the room, the heavy oak teacher's desk.

I started struggling. "Tanuma! What do you think you're doing?" It was hard to fight him when I wanted so badly to turn around, kiss him breathless, then drag him to the floor.

Tanuma pushed me up against the front of the broad heavy desk, then jammed his leg between my thighs to pin me there.

The feel of his hip pressed against my aching dick made me see stars and knocked the breath right out of me. It was exactly what I wanted, but not near enough of what I needed. But damn it, this was Tanuma! I grabbed onto his coat sleeves just to keep from rubbing up against his leg.

In the meantime, Tanuma was busy unfastening my uniform jack to expose the collar of my white t-shirt and all the marks on my neck. He froze, staring. "What are those, bruises?"

I groaned in defeat, and frustrated annoyance. "They're exactly what you think they are, sucker-bites."

His eyes widened. "Those are...hickeys?" He jerked my coat down my arms. The short sleeves of the t-shirt exposed the finger bruises all over my upper arms.

I glared up at him. I wasn't exactly angry with him so to speak, but I was incredibly embarrassed as well as frustrated, and too damned exhausted to think before I spoke. "Since you want to know so badly, I had sex last night. That's where those came from. That's also why I'm sitting funny."

Tanuma's eyes got even wider. "Sex...?"

Despite the embarrassment burning in my face, I held his gaze and nodded slowly. "With a man." I figured if that didn't scare him off nothing would.

Tanuma's jaw set. "That doesn't look like sex; that looks like rape."

I shook my head. "It wasn't rape. It was...mutual." More or less... The urge to kiss Tanuma's open mouth grew to epic proportions. I jerked my gaze away. "Can I go now?"

Tanuma shook his head, his fingers still around my arms, his hip still pressed against my dick. "I don't get it. Why did you run away from me?"

That was the last straw. My temper snapped. I grabbed his left hand and pressed it directly on my crotch, forcing his fingers around my hard dick. My frustrated and angry gaze locked on his. "That's why."

He sucked in a sharp breath, but he didn't pull away, he just let me hold his hand right on me. He spoke in a voice that was hoarse and breathless. "B-because you're h-hard?"

I leaned closer, still glaring. "Because I want you. I ran away because I want you inside of me, fucking me. Do you get it now?" I released his hand.

His eyes huge, he pulled his hand back and held it as though I'd burned it.

I couldn't take the look on his face. Shame poured through me, but that didn't affect the throbbing in my cock. His hand had felt so good, so warm... I looked away. "I just need to go to the john and jack off."

"Natsume?"

I rolled my eyes. _What now_? I looked over at him to ask just that.

His mouth covered mine, his tongue reaching out to shyly brush against my bottom lip. He pulled back and looked away, his face turning bright red. "I... I want you too." He swallowed. "Have for a while now."

It was my turn to look slack-jawed. "You do? You did? You do?" Shock had turned my brain to mush.

He nodded and gave me a glancing half-smile. "I didn't think I stood a chance. You're always so nice to the girls and kind of...distant with the guys."

I coughed. "Well truthfully, I didn't know either until recently." Recently, as in last night after Natori so very thoroughly screwed me stupid.

"So um..." Tanuma cleared his throat. "Want me to give you hand with...that?" He nodded down at my crotch. "Because I'm, uh..." He gently took my hand and pressed my palm to the crotch of his pants. He was hard too, really, really hard -- and long.

"I uh..." My mind went entirely blank. I know my face did. Suddenly the only thing in my brain was how good that long hard dick would feel inside me.

Tanuma leaned close and brushed his lips against mine.

I opened my mouth to him, and sought his tongue. He tasted of cola, and vaguely of a ham sandwich, but far stronger of masculine musk, of lust. I could actually taste his excitement on his tongue. I recognized the flavor from when I'd kissed Natori. I shuddered and let out a soft moan.

Tanuma's tongue suddenly swept strongly against mine as though I was a dessert he intended to devour. He sucked, licked, and nipped at my lips as though starved. His arms slid around my waist and pulled me up against his chest. His body heat sank right through my t-shirt and into my skin.

My fragile control shattered. I looped my arms under his and dug my fingers into his back, holding him tight against me. The scent of warm excited male, of sweat and lust, perfumed the air. I slid my hands down to grab his butt and pulled his crotch up against mine. Moaning, I arched back over the desk, hooking my leg up around his hip, and blatantly rubbed my crotch against his.

Tanuma gasped and broke the kiss. "Gods, Natsume..."

"Takashi." I leaned up to reach his neck and licked at the pulse on the side of his throat. "My name is Takashi." I bit down on the long muscle and massaged it with my teeth, but didn't sucker-bite him. I knew all too well just how embarrassing such marks could be.

"Ta--" Tanuma shuddered. "Takashi..." He writhed against me in a full body rub and moaned. "Kaname, call me Kaname."

I released him and leaned back to look up at him, admiring the blush on his cheeks, the wet redness of his lips, and how wide and dark his eyes were. "Kaname." I slid my coat the rest of the way off my arms then reached down to open my pants and pull down my briefs, freeing my cock. "I need you, Kaname, but we don't have much time. Get on the floor. Let me ride you."

Don't ask me where such words came from, I honestly don't know. It was as though I was possessed by the lust that raged in me. I was perfectly lucid, but completely focused on the need to get his dick up my ass as quickly as possible.

Kaname's eyes opened wide. His hands practically flew to his belt to unbuckle it, then unzipped with trembling fingers. "Lube, do you have any lube?"

I slid my hand into my pocket and pulled out the aloe gel. This was not what I had intended to use it for when I'd brought it to school, but I was glad I had it with me. "Hurry!"

Kaname suddenly reached into his back pocket to take out his wallet and pulled out a foil-wrapped condom. "Thank the gods dad makes me keep a pair of these in my wallet."

I frowned at the condom. "What's that for?"

His brow lifted. "You must be new at this."

My face warmed and my mouth watered. "I..." This was no time for lies. "I am."

A sly smile bloomed on his face. "Let me put it this way, are you sure you want to sit though the rest of school with an ass-full of cum?"

The thought was painfully exciting, but truthfully impractical. I winced. "No thank you."

His gaze hot on me, or rather my exposed cock, Kaname moved to the far side of the desk and peeled out of his uniform jacket. "Over here."

I walked over to stand facing him with my back to the curtained windows. I didn't question what I was about to do with a boy I barely knew well, I was too damned desperate to think beyond the fact that I wanted his cock inside me, fucking me, cumming in me. Even the fear of being discovered wasn't enough to make me reconsider my actions.

Kaname pulled his pants down to his knees. His cock was quite long and very, very erect. It curved up to his navel. A pearl of cum glistened on the head.

I couldn't take my eyes off it. With shaking hands, I slid my pants and briefs all the way off my legs.

Kaname ripped open the small packet and slid the condom over his cock then sat on the dusty wood floor with his back against the desk and his legs extended. He stared up at me.

I dropped my pants and straddled his thighs then got down on my knees. I squirted some aloe gel into my hands, thumbed the cap closed and set on the floor beside us. I wasn't quite ready to shove my fingers up my ass, so I reached over to grasp Kaname's cock. It was hot and very rigid. I slid my palms all the way up, over the top then back down, coating the condom with the thick gel.

Kaname groaned. "Shit that feels good." He lifted the bottle from the floor to squirt gel onto his opposite finger tips. He thumbed it closed then set it back down. Rubbing his fingers together, he looped his other arm around my waist pulling me up against his chest to kiss me, hungrily.

Barely in time, I moved my gel-slicked hands out the way. I didn't want to get that all over his shirt.

Two of Kaname's fingers slid down the crack of my ass and centered on my anus. He pulled his mouth from mine and frowned. "You're a little swollen. Are you sure...?"

I stared him dead in the eye. "Fuck me."

His eyes locked to mine, he pressed lightly with both fingers.

I set my jaw and pushed out against him.

Both of Kaname's fingers slid in fairly easily and went in deep. His gaze hooded and a soft breath came from his lips. "So you _do_ know this part." He moved his fingers around, spreading the gel. "Feels like you're already prepared for this."

Tingles erupted, lifting the hairs all over my body. "I know how to open, if that's what you mean." My eyes closed and I writhed a little against his hand. "I was...a little sore this morning. That's what I've been using the gel for."

"I see." Kaname abruptly found that swollen and hungry spot inside me and rubbed.

A small but delicious burst of electrical intensity forced a gasp from my lips. It was good, but not nearly what I wanted. "Enough." My voice came out hoarse and breathless. I opened my eyes to stare into his deep black eyes. "Fuck me."

Kaname's fingers left me. He swallowed. "I'm ready." 

I wiped my hands on my t-shirt then grabbed onto his shoulders. I lowered myself until I felt the hot, broad head of his cock. I pushed to open myself and pressed down to take him into me. I was forced to lean back a little to get the right angle. My hand went back to grasp Kaname's thigh.

The flared head of his crown breeched me with a slight pop. The stretched muscles stung, but I was beyond caring. With deep sighing moan, I took his entire length into my body.

Kaname groaned and grabbed my hips. "Fuck, you're hot, and tight." He suddenly fumbled out a second condom packet and tore it open. "Here, put this on." He rolled the condom over my cock and smiled. "So you don't get cum all over me."

I blinked. "Good idea." I hadn't even considered how to deal with the mess we'd make at the end of things. Now we wouldn't have to.

He rolled his hips and his cock rubbed against my sweet spot.

The pressure was beyond delicious. I shuddered. "Yes..." I had him exactly where I needed him so I rocked upward and slid down hard to land precisely on that spot. Delight seared through me and stars exploded behind my eyes. A choking gasp left my lips.

Kaname reached up to grab the back of my neck and took my mouth a quick kiss. He flashed a smile. "Looks like I'm gonna have to keep your mouth covered." He pulled me into a wet open-mouthed kiss, his cock sliding partway from my body. His other hand cupped my ass then his hips bucked upward, driving his cock into me.

A flash of ecstasy, and more stars. My cock rubbing against his firm belly added to the intensity. I cried out into his mouth and dug my fingers into his shoulders.

He groaned, his tongue curling against mine. He withdrew partway, then drove upward again.

I met him coming down.

Both of us groaned and writhed to make the pleasure last.

He reached down to cup my ass with both hands and pushed me up, then shoved me down onto his oncoming thrust. His cock hit that spot inside me at full power.

The pleasure detonating throughout my pelvic region and up my spine whitewashed my mind. My shout became a mere whimper in his mouth and I sucked on his tongue ravenously. _This_ was what I wanted. This was what I _needed_.

With surprising strength, Kaname lifted me and drove me back down onto his cock, fucking me over and over and over. The obscene sound of my ass slapping against his thighs and our mutual grunts of effort filled the room.

Drowning in intense pleasure, my fingers knotting in the shoulders of his t-shirt, the coiling tension in my gut mounted. I writhed in his hands and sucked at his mouth desperate to reach the end, yet just as desperate to prolong the inevitable.

Kaname pulled his mouth from mine. "Shit... I'm gonna cum."

The thought of Kaname cumming in my ass tipped the balance. My balls clenched hard. I gasped. "Shit, me too." On the next thrust rapture detonated. My entire body ignited with the glorious lightning of orgasm. My cock pulsed, releasing against his belly.

Kaname barely got his mouth over mine in time to swallow my screams. His fingers dug into my ass while he continued to drive into me hard and fast.

Whimpering and moaning, I shuddered with residual shocks, writhing in the pleasure that spilled through me.

Shuddering and grunting, he drove in particularly deep once, twice, then again and held. His gasping groan filled my mouth. His cock pulsed inside me.

Finally spent, our lips parted. I collapsed against his chest panting for breath while his cock twitched deep in my ass.

~ * ~


	8. Chapter 8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Eight ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draped over Tanuma's broad shoulders with his dick still in my ass and mine still twitching in its condom, the deep realization of what I’d just done speared me through the heart. I’d not only skipped a whole class, I'd just had sex with the one person that was the closest I had to a best friend. _Oh, Gods I fucked up, big-time._ I curled into his shoulder, afraid to look at him. Afraid of what I would see.

Tanuma -- Kaname, stroked his hand down my sweating back and spoke softly in my ear. "I won't regret this. I'm glad we...did this."

I winced. Kaname really was more sensitive than I'd thought. Despite the shame burning in my face, or perhaps in defiance of it, I sat up and looked at him. "I-I'm sorry..."

He looked at me squarely in the eye. "You did _not_ use me." He smiled slyly. "I've been dying to get into your pants ever since I met you."

The heat in my face stayed the same, but the cause was completely different. Shame had been utterly replaced by a shy sort of pleased astonishment. "You... Really?"

He nodded and the mild smile that I knew so well bloomed on his face. "You're hot, okay?"

I couldn't help but smile. "I'm hot?"

One dark brow lifted. "Don't let it go to your head." His hands cupped my butt and he helped me to rise from his lap. His softened dick slipped out of me condom and all.

With one hand on the desk for balance, I stood up on knees that had turned to rubber. I stepped over him, straightened, and winced. My ass was definitely not happy with me. I reached down to pull the condom off my dick, not quite sure what to do with it.

"Funny..." Kaname sourly peeled off his condom and knotted it. "All this time I thought you were too young for me." His gaze met mine. "Then my dad tells me, you're older than I am...?"

I shrugged and looked away, following his example and knotting the condom. "I um, stayed back two grades and I'm small for my age."

Kaname nodded. "That's what he said." He turned and pointed out a wastebasket in the corner by the window. He chucked the condom into it.

I chucked mine too then collected my pants and briefs from the floor. My balance was shot, so I leaned back against the desk to get my legs into them. "I guess we better hit the john and clean up before the next period."

Kaname nodded then rose to his feet with some difficulty. His knees seemed to be as wobbly as mine were. He pulled up his pants and fastened them. "So, next time, what do you say we use a bed, hm?"

 _Next time_? A tiny thrill shot through me. I licked my lips and closed my pants. "A bed sounds good." I reached down to get my jacket.

He groaned and rubbed his butt. "It'll be easier on my ass than the floor, that's for sure."

I snorted and pulled on my uniform jacket. "You can complain after your ass has a dick in it."

Kaname leaned over to catch my gaze. "I'll hold you to that."

I froze with my hands on my coat buttons, my eyes widening. "You'd let me...?"

He straightened and grabbed his jacket from the desk top. "Sure. It's only fair, right?"

I simply stood there, my jacket half unbuttoned, stunned by the very idea of Kaname letting me...do him.

He turned around and waved his hand before my eyes. "Earth to Takashi!"

I blinked then pushed his hand away. "Cut that out!"

He laughed.

I laughed and finished fastening my coat to the throat.

Kaname lifted his head and scraped back his hair with both hands. "So, about that last soccer game..."

So, while chatting about completely safe subjects, things that had nothing to do with sex, or new boyfriends, we strode to the closest john. We didn't hold hands, or anything stupidly mushy like that, but we did smile and occasionally bump shoulders.

In the john, we cleaned off with thin soap and paper towels while laughing over stupid things. When the bell rang, we parted to slip into our respective classes.

Although my classmates looked at me strangely, and I couldn't sit straight to save my life, I smiled and entertained the idea that I might actually take the bus all the way out to Eight Fields -- after I bought a box of condoms.

That was the plan anyway.

When the final bell rang marking the end of classes, and the start of club activities, I went to my locker just outside homeroom to retrieve my coat and my outdoor shoes. With all the spirits seeking me out, or just plain chasing me down, club activities wasn't something I really had time for.

Kaname strode up to my locker already in his shoes and in his long blue wool coat, and leaned his shoulder against the locker next to mine. His smile was mild but there was a hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips. His gaze was focused below my nose, quite obviously on my mouth. He licked his lips.

My face warmed. I'd had no idea that Kaname could be such a pervert. I looked away to drag on my brown wool coat, then toed into my shoes. After wrapping my heavy green scarf around my neck, I hefted my book bag over my shoulder and faced him.

He tilted his head in a wordless invitation to go with him.

I nodded once in acceptance then walked at his side down the hall and out the school's front door. The sky was overcast and gray, the air chilly and a touch sharp. It smelled like snow.

The cat was not waiting for me in the grass.

It was kind of a relief. I didn't need him asking weird questions about Kaname. However, it was kind of worrying too. He was rarely away from me for this long. He was one of the most powerful spirits in the area, so I didn't think he'd been attacked or anything. Few of the local spirits were _that_ stupid.

It was far more likely that he was still mad at me for putting that _sutra_ in the fridge. It wouldn't be the first time he'd taken off in a temperamental huff to disappear for a few days. I sighed and shook my head. He'd get over it as soon as he got hungry enough, probably by dinner time. He liked Touko's cooking _a lot_.

Without a word between us, I accompanied Kaname down the circular school drive to the tin-roofed shelter at his bus stop. The bus had yet to arrive, so I leaned back against the corrugated tin interior wall of the shelter and contemplated Kaname's elegant profile. "So, how often does the downtown bus go to Eight Fields?" It was a not-so-subtle hint that I was interested in visiting him, possibly regularly.

He turned to me and gave me a patently false look of mild interest. "Not including this bus, there are three; eleven AM, five PM and eight PM. The last two buses back from Eight Fields leave at six PM and nine PM."

I nodded. We got out of school at four. If I wanted to catch the five PM bus, I had plenty of time to go home and grab a sandwich before I had to get to the bus stop. The nine PM return bus would have me back just in time to eat dinner with the Fujiwaras. Shigure didn't get home until nine, so Touko served dinner at nine-thirty, ten-ish. I could then do my homework and still get to bed early enough for school the next day.

Best of all, while I was...visiting at the temple, no spirits could bother me. Mr. Tanuma's barriers were _that_ good. Of course going to and from the temple might get a little...interesting.

I smiled. "I don't think Mrs. Fujiwara will mind me doing...homework with you."

"I know my dad won't." Kaname rolled his eyes. "He says I could use all the help I can get." His smile turned sly and he wandered closer to me. His voice dropped low and deep. "And then we can watch TV in my room."

A little curl of heated interest coiled in my gut. I licked my lips and swallowed. "Sounds like a plan." My voice was just a tiny bit breathless.

Kaname glanced out the shelter towards the road then caught me by the shoulders and pressed me back against the metal wall. His mouth covered mine.

My eyes closed and my tongue sought his in a fast but heated kiss. Gods, he tasted unbelievably good.

He pulled back with wide dark eyes and pink-tinted cheeks. He licked his lips. "I can't wait."

I tried to smile, but it was hard to past the pounding of my heart. "I'll talk to the Fujiwara's tonight, so expect a phone call from them."

He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "I'll tell my dad."

I followed his glance. The old-fashioned diesel city bus was coming toward the stop.

With a squeal of airbrakes and the roar of its engine, the bus came to a halt and the doors squeaked open. Kaname got on, his coins rattling in the toll box.

It took more effort than I cared to admit to _not_ get on that bus and go with him.

The doors creaked closed and the bus roared back into motion. He waved from the window.

I stepped from the shelter and waved back.

"There you are, Takashi." The familiar voice was deep and penetrating, but cheerful. It was also right behind me.

My stomach dropped into my bowels and every hair on my body stood on end. All of a sudden, I wished with every fiber of my being that I had gotten on that bus with Kaname. With great reluctance, I turned to look behind me.

Shuuichi Natori, the only other who could see spirits the way I could -- and the man that had taken me over the hood of his car, stood beside the shelter with his hands in the pockets of his long gray coat. His smile was bright, but his gaze was narrowed and sharp. "I've been waiting for you."

I turned away and started walking. I was not in the mood to deal with that man.

Natori was apparently not in the mood to take a hint. The bastard followed me.

I headed for the school gates and barged straight into the dense crowd of kids leaving the school grounds intending to lose him in the crush.

Natori smiled and waved at everyone around him. I swear the air sparkled.

The kids stared wide-eyed and parted around him. More than a few giggled, whispered, and pointed. All of them avoided going anywhere near him -- or me.

Down the sidewalk along the main road toward town, I stretched my legs to their limits determined to leave him behind. The motion made my ass sting in reminder -- not of what Kaname and I had done, but what Natori and I had done.

All day I had successfully pushed away what had happened just last night, but with him right at my heels, it became impossible. Memories fierce and visceral flooded into me; his warm, skilled hands on my body, his teeth bruising yet exciting on my throat, his cock hot, hard, and deep inside me -- his cum sliding down my thighs...

It became difficult to think of Kaname, and it was Kaname I wanted to think about.

However, Kaname couldn't see spirits the way I could -- the way Natori could. Natori was the only other one who lived the way I did, and saw the things I saw. He understood exactly how it felt to be unlike anyone else, caught between two worlds without truly belonging to either. 

I didn't want to be alone and unable to share the whole other part of my life, and I knew Natori felt the same. I knew he felt the same crushing loneliness I felt and for years longer. Why else would he follow me as he was?

But I _liked_ Kaname and I didn't trust Natori. I _couldn't_ trust Natori.

I tried to focus on Kaname, but my mind stubbornly filled with Natori under the moonlight telling me the words I'd waited to hear all my life. " _I see them too_." I tried to think of Kaname's kisses, but my memory supplied me with Natori's mouth on my dick, his tongue on my ass, his fingers on that hidden spot inside me that I’d never known existed.

I wanted to break into a run to escape those memories, to escape _him_ \-- but I couldn't. I couldn't run because in the course of my thoughts, somehow I’d gotten hard -- violently, urgently hard.

~ * ~


	9. Chapter 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Nine ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My route home was not normally through town, but straight across the fields. However, I'd chosen to go through town because with Natori dogging my heels, I strongly suspected that being out in the open with no one else around would have been a very bad idea.

Unfortunately, the route I took didn't seem to faze Natori in the slightest. The bastard lingered ten steps behind me all the way into town.

The good news was there were people everywhere. It was the hour when the primary school let out and most of the housewives did their shopping. The bad news was that because there were people everywhere, the staring, giggling, whispering, and pointing got worse.

So did my... _condition_. That place inside me started to pulse angry, and demanding. My dick was already throbbing. Even though I was more than desperate to get home to jack off in the privacy of my shower, I was forced to slow my steps.

I wanted to scream in pure frustration and fury for what Natori's presence was doing to me, but I couldn't. We were surrounded by people who knew me, who knew the Fujiwaras. I didn't want to bring attention to myself. I could only walk, and keep walking in the hope that something would distract the bastard from my heels.

In front of the grocery store, Natori was cornered by a small flock of chirpy housewives.

My heart leaped. _Finally_! I crossed the street and dove into a narrow side street lined with tiny specialty shops. At the very next crossroad, I ducked into a back alley lined with dumpsters. Then another alley, a side street, a pedestrian walking zone, and another side street, each smaller than the last until I'd made a complete loop to come out at the opposite end of the main street and only a few blocks from home.

Directly in front of me, Natori stepped out of a shop doorway. He smiled. "There you are."

I turned on my heel and went the other way. The instant I did it, I realized that it had probably been a stupid move. I was only a few blocks from my house. At the same time, I wasn't so sure I wanted Natori knocking on the Fujiwara's front door -- and he _would_ knock. Touko was the type that would invite him to dinner.

Natori trailed behind me once again, only this time he was merely three steps behind.  

My temper stretched to the breaking point. I glared over my shoulder. "Could you walk a little farther away from me?"

He smiled blithely, his hands jammed in his jacket pockets. "Hm? Why?"

I ducked my head, tucking my chin into my scarf. "I hate standing out."

"My apologies, am I sparking too brightly?" He smiled and at that moment, a single ray of sunlight descended from the clouds just to shine on him alone. His hair gleamed gold.

I scowled at him in open annoyance. I simply could not win with this guy. Clearly, Fate was on his side.

In two long strides, he fell into step beside me. "I'd like to talk to you. May I accompany you?"

I jerked to a halt to face him angrily and opened my mouth to refuse. Nothing came out. My tongue and my voice refused to work.

He nodded. "Thank you."

I ground my teeth. "I did not agree."

He leaned close and his smile curled into a smirk. "You didn't refuse either."

I fisted my hands at my sides and opened my mouth to shout out an earful at him.

Suddenly the people around us stopped and stared right at the two of us.

Natori tilted his head to the side and smiled; his pose thoughtful -- and smug. 

I dropped my chin, and clenched my teeth, forcibly biting back my temper. I _couldn't_ make a scene by shouting at the bastard, not when he was a semi-famous actor that everyone seemed to know -- and _like_. It would get back to the Fujiwara's that their ward was ill-mannered in public. I couldn't do that to them. I refused to bring them embarrassment, or shame.

Abruptly, Natori leaned closer and spoke in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "This way." He turned and walked away.

I stared at his retreating back, shocked. He honestly expected me to just follow him blindly? _Moron._ I turned my back on him and stepped away.

A band suddenly constricted around the base of my dick.

I gasped in surprise and barely stopped myself from grabbing my crotch in public. _What in hell_...? It was same thing as earlier, the _exact same thing_. The pull was there too, the _leash_. Unnerved, I took a faltering step.

The leash suddenly pulled hard and tightened painfully.

I choked and stopped, unable to take one more step. Fear tightened around my heart. _Something_ had me at the end of a string and whatever it was, it was powerful which meant it was probably deadly too.

The leash tugged at me, urging me to go the other way, to go back.

Terrified of what I'd see, I slowly turned to look behind me.

Natori had stopped and was looking back at me. There was a smile on his lips that was not bright or gentle at all. It was arrogant, and triumphant.

I took a quick glance around, but there was no sign of a spirit anywhere, just...him. I stared at him in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock. It was _him_? It _couldn't_ be him. I'd fully expected a powerful spirit to be holding the end of the leash, but a normal human had done this to me? It just wasn't possible!

He lifted his brow and patted his thigh, as one would to call a dog.

The leash tightened painfully and pulled harder.

I winced and a small sound of pain escaped my lips. Apparently, it was definitely possible. I took a step in his direction, just to relieve the constriction.

He nodded, turned his back, and started walking.

The leash tightened viciously.

I gasped and a small whimper of pain slipped past my lips. The only relief available was to comply. With my heart pounding in my throat, and a cold sweat forming down my spine, I followed at his heels. I was pretty sure he didn't intend to kill me, but that didn't make the situation any less horrifying.

However, I'd dealt with far too many truly dangerous situations to remain afraid for long. Fairly quickly, my trembling fear became boiling anger -- anger at being dragged along like a dog, and anger at my missing bodyguard. _Where the hell is that damned cat when I need him_?

Unfortunately, blind anger wouldn't help me any more than blind fear. I stamped down on my temper to clear my mind to think. This wasn't the first time I’d been left to fend for myself, and I wasn't completely without resources.

In the flat pouch belted around my hips was the _Book of Friends_. If I had to, I could call a spirit to assist me. Mitsuzu, the gigantic horse spirit, had said I could summon him if needed. However, I couldn't do a damned thing while on a populated street, and certainly not while moving. I needed a place to draw the semi-complicated circle and quiet to do the summons.

Which brought me to my next question: Where the hell, was Shuuichi Natori _taking_ me?

Despite the fact that I had no idea what would happen once we got there, I hoped for the sake of my aching dick that it wasn't far. The leash wrapped around my painfully throbbing erection was making it difficult to breathe, let alone walk. My knees wanted to buckle. The exhaustion I'd been fighting all day wasn't helping either. 

Natori suddenly stopped to open the door to a shop. The ground floor housed a coffee shop, but the upstairs was an inn. Holding the door open, he turned to smile at me and signaled that I should precede him.

My steps dragged. It wasn't because I was reluctant, though I _was_ reluctant. It was because I honestly felt that my shaking legs were going to give out on me. Somehow, I made it through the doorway to step past him into a hall. On the right was a set of double-doors leading into the coffee shop, and directly in front of me an old-fashioned gated elevator. I sought the left wall and leaned against it panting for breath.

Natori stepped in behind me and closed the door. His hand pressed against my shoulder, urging me to turn and face him. He frowned. "Takashi, what's wrong?"

If I hadn't been in so much pain, I would have laughed in his face. I gave him a glare and a bitter smile then spoke softly between gasps for air. I didn't want the customers beyond the door to hear me. "You have a leash around my dick and it's tight, you bastard. What do you _think_ is wrong with me?"

He blinked. "You're in pain?"

I bared my teeth at him and twitched my shoulder out from under his hand, then snarled. "You're hauling me around by my dick! _Of course_ I'm in pain!"

He winced. "I didn't think it would hurt you."

I narrowed my eyes at him and spoke through my clenched teeth. "You didn't think _what_ would hurt me? What did you _do_ to me?"

He grabbed my upper arm and turned me toward the elevator. "Let's get you to my room."

I jerked back from his hand. "First tell me what--"

The leash around my cock and balls tightened viciously.

A small sound of pain escaped my lips and I dropped to my knees, my eyes watering.

Natori sighed and shook his head. "I don't know exactly what it does, but I do know that it's designed to enforce obedience." He reached down to grasp my arm. "Please stop fighting it." He lifted me to my feet, then hauled me into the small elevator.

I didn't resist, but I wanted to. Hell I wanted to punch him in the head, but the stupid thing around my dick had damned near crushed me just for arguing with him. My only hope was that Natori would eventually let me go home. Hopefully, Nyanko-sensei would know what to do about it.

The elevator doors opened on the second floor. Natori led me down a sedate carpeted hall to the last wooden door on the left. A sliding key opened the door to a fairly spacious suite. It was done in the traditional Japanese style; dark cherry beams and cream wallpaper with a tatami mat floor.

I crossed the threshold, let my book-bag slide from my shoulders, and stepped out of my shoes on reflex alone.

The main room had a row of paper and lathe shuttered windows on the right with a low black lacquered table surrounded by thick sitting pillows. A set of paper and lathe sliding doors on the left were open to reveal a very spacious bedroom. The double-thick futon was already laid out with a midnight blue comforter already spread upon it.

Natori shrugged out of his coat, turned to me and smiled. "Good boy."

The constriction around my dick evaporated. It was not exactly a relief. Returning circulation in the form of pins and needles stabbed into my dick. I grabbed my crotch and groaned before I could stop myself. It didn't last long, nor did it relieve me of my erection. In fact, I was left practically trembling with hideous need.

Natori stepped close to unwind my scarf and unbuttoned my overcoat. His scent wafted from his body subtle, clean and the gods help me, very distracting. "Does it still hurt?"

My cock actually pulsed in time with my heart. "It's... I need..." I struggled to get my mind focused enough to speak. "Yes, but not the same way."

"I see." He tugged the coat and the scarf off me, and dropped both on the floor. He frowned at my uniform jacket. "You have this fastened to the throat?"

I took several deep breaths and worked to focus past my erection, past the hungry ache inside me. "I'm practically covered in sucker bites. I didn't want anyone to see them." I looked up at him in helpless fury. "Why are you doing this?"

He began to unbutton my uniform jacket. "It's warm in here. You'll swelter in minutes."

I scowled and shook my head. _Side-stepping bastard_! I pointed at my crotch. "Why the leash on my dick?"

"Truthfully, I didn't think it would take. It's not meant for humans." Natori dropped the uniform jacket on top of my coat and scarf. His brow lifted and his head tilted to the side. "You _are_ human, right?"

I ground my teeth. " _Of course_ I'm human!"

He chuckled. "How strange... When I first sensed you, I honestly though you were a spirit." He grabbed the hem of my t-shirt and tugged it up over my head, and off.

I didn't resist. I really didn't want that thing to tighten around my dick again, but it was clear that Natori was planning to fuck me. Sadly, I was desperate enough to want it too. My anus actually twitched at the thought.

He blinked at the black and violet marks all over my shoulders and chest. "Oh my... I had no idea you marked that easily." His swept his hands down my chest, the stroke warm and firm. "I guess I'll have to exercise more restraint with you." His thumbs brushed my nipples.

Delight sparked all the way down to the head of my cock. I restrained the moan that wanted to come forth, barely. I narrowed my eyes on him. "Can you take it off now?"

His fingers slid down my belly to my belt buckle. He smiled. "So eager?"

I didn't dare push him away, but I did fist my hands at my sides, and spoke through my clenched teeth. "The leash on my dick, take it off!"

His smile faded, but his hands remained on my belt buckle. "I'm serious about my offer. I want you with me. You'd make a brilliant apprentice." He smiled wistfully. "I have so much to tell you, to show you...! I swear, I'll take very good care of you."     

The bastard was dancing around the subject! I glared at him. "Take it _off!_ "

Natori took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You're going to refuse."

I shook my head in frustration and just spat out the truth. " _Of course_ I'm going to refuse! You never give me a straight answer and you put a...a _leash_ on me! How can I trust you?"

He opened his eyes and all trace of humor was gone. "Takashi, I'm sorry but you've given me no choice."

My eyes opened wide and a cold sweat formed on my back. "What...?"

He leaned close and whispered against my ear. "If this is what it takes to have you...?" He tugged my belt open and unbuttoned my pants.

I grabbed onto his wrists, desperation coloring my voice. "You can't keep me! That's kidnapping!"

He smiled. "Oh, I won't need to kidnap you. In fact, you'll be going home soon. As long as you're bound, you will come when I call." His eyed narrowed and his mouth tightened. " _Whenever_ I call."

I glared back at him. "You won't hold me for long. I _will_ break this. Maybe not right away, but I _will_ break whatever this is you have on me."

He smiled, and it wasn't pretty. "Well, then I’d better make sure to change your mind about my offer as quickly as possible, yes?"

I stared at him in open mystification. "What are you talking about?"

His hands rose to close on my shoulders. "On your knees."

There was a warning twinge around my cock.

I dropped to my knees.

He cupped the back of my head and pressed my nose against his crotch or more specifically, against his fly and his half-hard erection.

The perfume of masculine sweat tinged with semen filled my nose. It smelled delicious. I couldn't help but grab onto his thighs and draw in a deeper breath to smell more of it.

"Do you want it?" His voice was cold, and hard.

That place in side me throbbed in eagerness. I didn't want to say it, but I just couldn't stop myself. "Yes."

~ * ~


	10. Chapter 10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Ten ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natori grabbed a handful of my hair and tugged my face away from his crotch.

I hissed and winced. _What now_?

He stared down at me, his mouth in a cold hard line, his eyes narrowed and hot. "The binding's intent isn't merely to make you come when I call. It's linked directly to your libido, your sexual appetite. You will get hard, and you will _stay_ hard until it is satisfied, which in your case means a good hard fuck."

Well, that certainly explained why I practically raped Kaname.

His lips twisted into a chilling smile. "Do you want me to fuck you Takashi?"

Sadly, I didn't just want him to fuck me, I _needed_ him to fuck me. I swallowed and looked away. I couldn't meet his eyes. "Yes."

His brow lifted. "Yes, what? What's my name, Takashi?"

I winced. _Not that again_! Unfortunately, I was in no position to argue. "Yes, Shuuichi."

He released my hair and reached down to unfasten his belt, unbutton his pants, and unzip his fly. "I want you to use your mouth." He shoved his pants down to his thighs, releasing the half-hard length of his uncircumcised cock. "Make me good and hard Takashi, and I'll fuck you."

I stared at the sheathed cock only inches from my lips, and shamefully, my mouth watered. I reached up and closed my hands around it. It was very warm, almost hot. I smoothed my hand down his shaft, sliding the sheath back to expose the sensitive head. It was already damp and glistening. I'd never sucked a dick before, but I'd masturbated plenty of times. It couldn't be too different from that.

I leaned forward, stuck out my tongue, and swept it across the crown. It tasted of slightly salty cream, almost buttery with a very odd musky after-taste. It wasn't the most pleasant tasting thing in the world, but I'd had worse.

Natori gave a sighing moan and his gaze hooded. "Lick it." His deep voice went soft and husky. "Lick all of it."

I leaned forward to stroke the entire length with my tongue, exploring the veins and ridges then flicked around the flared edge. On a whim, I ducked lower to sweep my tongue along his lightly furred balls. The scent was tangier from sweat, but I could smell soap too.

Natori groaned and his fingers burrowed into my hair. "Yes, good. Now, put it in your mouth and suck on it. No teeth."

The way that Natori had sucked my dick was burned into my memory, so I did as he had done. I took as much of it into my mouth as I could, and holding the rest in my hands, I withdrew sucking. Then sucked it back in, then withdrew. The saliva in my mouth plus the suction made the most horrifically obscene sounds -- sounds that went straight to my aching cock.

Natori groaned, and started pumping into my mouth, his fingers gripping my hair and his gaze pinned to my face, and what i was doing. "Gods... I've been imagining what it'd be like to fuck your mouth all day damned day. Thinking about how your lips would look stretched around my dick..."

His filthy words should have disgusted me, but instead, they excited me into greater enthusiasm. However, my jaw soon tired of the exercise. Even so, I kept going. Suddenly, a spat of salty cream coated my tongue.

Natori choked and his fingers tightened on my hair. "Enough." He yanked my head away from him.

The cock slid from my mouth with the sound of wet suction. Saliva dribbled from my lips down my chin.

"Take off your pants." Natori reached down to stroke himself.

I didn't protest. I was too desperate for relief to even consider it. I stood up and dropped my pants and briefs, exposing my fiercely rigid and almost purple cock. The damned thing stood straight out from my body. It was so far extended that my balls had pulled forward.

He smiled down at my cock. "Oh yes, you definitely need a fuck." He met my eyes. "In the bathroom."

I blinked at him in confusion, but didn't question him. I turned to walk into his bedroom completely naked then I stepped to the left and strode into the en suite bath. I flipped on the light switch, and looked around. On the right was a long counter with two sinks and a mirror that ran the full length of the wall. On the left was an alcove for the toilet, before me was a glassed-in shower and beside it on the right, a covered soaking tub.

Natori was only two steps behind me. "The counter; face the counter."

I turned to face the counter -- and the mirror. I barely recognized myself. My cheeks were red as were the lobes of my ears. My eyes were dilated wide and dark, the brown a mere ring around pits of darkness. My lips were deep red, wet, and parted. My nipples were so hard they'd darkened to a rosy hue. The counter was low so my shamefully erect dick was fully displayed.

Natori came up behind me and set his hands on my shoulders. His gaze met mine in the glass. "I want you watch yourself while I fuck you. I want you to see what you look like while you take my cock up your ass. I want you to see just how much you truly love being fucked -- by me."

I ducked my head, my face burning with humiliation. I did _not_ want to see that. I was having enough difficulty just dealing with the fact that I even _liked_ it. "Natori -- Shuichi, please...!"

He reached forward to cup my chin and forced my head up to peer at the mirror. His narrowed cinnamon gaze caught mine. "You _will_ look at yourself." He leaned close to whisper against my ear. "I have other methods of binding you to make you watch, Takashi. Don't make me use them."

"Why are you doing this to me?" To my horror, my voice vibrated and my eyes watered.

Natori wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and his voice turned gentle, and concerned. "I just want you to see what I see. I want you to witness the pleasure I give you -- the pleasure only _I_ can give you." His feet knocked my feet wide and his hand pressing at the center of my shoulder-blades urged me forward onto my hands. He pressed two fingers against my anus.

They slid right in, sliding on the gel I'd been using on it all day. I barely needed to push at all. My body was that lax -- and that ravenous.

Natori looked down at his fingers and smiled. "Oh, prepared already?"

I ground my teeth. "No, it...hurt this morning. I've been using aloe gel on it."

He nodded and hummed. "You are a bit swollen. I'll have to take it easy on you." His gaze met mine and he smiled. "If you'll _allow_ me to take it easy on you." His fingers speared into that swollen and hungry place deep inside.

The spark of electrical fire forced a gasping cry from my lips that echoed obscenely. Every hair on my body rose and I arched up, coming up on my toes. My head tipped back, the neck muscles in my throat standing out. Without any conscious effort on my part, my body writhed back onto his hand, every muscle in my arms, chest, and belly stretching, and flexing in sharp relief. I didn't recognize myself at all. I looked some animal in the throes of extreme pleasure -- or pain.

Sadly, it was far too close to the truth. The hunger in my body was bestial in its greed. No matter how much I didn't want Natori, my body simply did not care who fucked me as long as it got fucked.

Natori reached past me to collect a small clear bottle and uncapped it with his thumb. He withdrew his fingers.

I moaned at the loss before I could even think to bite back the sound. Worse still, I rolled my ass in an open plea to be filled.

Natori chuckled and slathered his palms with the clear gel from the bottle. "My, my... What a shameless display." He stroked the full length of his cock with the gel with loud wet slurps. "Need it that badly, do you?"

I wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but I was afraid of being crushed by the leash. I had to settle for a glare.

His gaze didn't meet mine. He was too busy staring at my butt. He slid his heated and slippery cock down my ass until the broad head pressed against my anus. "Push back, take me in."

I pressed back onto him, and breeched myself with a soft defeated gasp. It stung, but I was too desperate for relief to care. I pressed further back to swallow him whole. The fullness and tightness that had been uncomfortable the first time, wasn't there at all. It actually felt enjoyable. I rolled my hips to bring his cock in contact with the small delicious spot inside. The intensity that spilled throughout my entire pelvic region, bowels, belly, cock, and balls made me shudder.

Natori's mouth came open on a groan and he leaned over my back. His left hand slid past me to grip the counter next to my hand. His lips brushed the bite mark on my left shoulder. He turned to stroke the shell of my ear with his tongue and caught my gaze in the mirror. "Fuck yourself, Takashi. Fuck yourself on my dick and make yourself cum." His other hand reached around my chest to thumb my nipple.

Pleasure sparked in the head of my cock, as though he'd touched it instead of my nipple. I gasped and ground back onto his cock in sheer reaction, my spine twisting, muscles rolling -- all of it visible in the mirror before my eyes. The sight was strangely...exciting.

Completely on its own, my body rocked forward, then shoved back onto Natori's cock -- or rather, that's what it felt like. What it _looked_ like was completely different. My spine actually arched up at the shoulders to pull forward. For the thrust back, that arch rolled down my spine, undulating in sinuous wave that ended with my hips snapping downward at an angle that brought Natori's cock into perfect alignment with that spot deep in my ass.

The view was somewhat shocking and it made the pleasure that detonated inside me sharper. A burst of white fire blazed in my mind. My eyes squeezed shut briefly and I choked out a soft moaning gasp I simply couldn't hold back. My eyes opened just in time to see myself repeat exactly the same action; rock forward, arch, undulate, snap -- _pleasure_! Another moaning gasp I couldn't contain burst from my lips.

Before the intense pleasure had even faded, I found myself rocking forward then snapping back again, then again, repeating that sinuous motion harder and faster, gasping out my pleasure. With my gaze hooded and my gasping mouth wide open, I looked like an animal entirely intent on selfish fulfillment.

Above me, Natori looked just as bestial, his gaze just as hooded as mine, but narrowed and heated. His teeth were bared in a grimace. Suddenly, his hand on my chest slid down to put pressure low on my belly. His shoulders tightened and his spine rolled. His hips snapped to meet my ass in a thrust that doubled the intensity inside of me.

I'd had no idea that _that_ was what he looked like when he fucked me. It was shocking and...intoxicating.

A loud choking cry of raw pleasure escaped me. I dropped to my elbows on the counter and pressed a palm to the glass. I arched and snapped back harder, meeting his thrusts with all the power I could summon. My rigid and untouched cock bobbed before the counter, dripping long strings of cum onto the floor.

Natori reached under me and pinched both my nipples.

The sparks of pleasure stabbed straight to my dick. My entire body shuddered and bucked. My balls suddenly clenched and my entire body tensed, freezing in place. My eyes opened wide in what appeared to be shock. The intense clenching explosion of release crashed through me. My face twisted in a grimace that looked like pain, but it wasn't. I was so far from pain I was practically mindless. A choking howl was wrenched from my throat. I watched my cock pump spat after spat of cum all over the counter and the floor. Spent, my body went limp onto my elbows.

Natori's arms closed tight around me, holding me firmly while his hips snapped against my ass, fucking me with near-vicious frenzy.

Still rolling in euphoria, a soft gasping moan escaped me with each of his thrusts. 

He winced and stilled, thrust shallowly a few more times, then rammed in deep, threw his head back and gave a deep groaning sigh. His cock pulsed inside me pumping thick hot wetness -- his cum, deep into my bowels.

Staring in the mirror, watching the euphoria fade from my eyes, reality set in. I had an ass full of cum from a man I could _not_ say no to. Any time he wanted me he could call me, and have me -- and _I couldn't stop him_. That I enjoyed it so thoroughly only made the situation worse. It was if my body was already his willing slave.

Natori pulled back, his softened dick sliding out of me with a spill of warm wetness that ran down my balls and my thighs.

At that moment, I _hated_ him.

Natori leaned over my back to press a kiss to my temple. "Did you see how much you enjoy being ass-fucked?"

I shot him a narrow-eyed glare and bared my teeth. "Fine, you made you point. I like taking it up the ass." I pushed up and turned around to face him with my knees shaking under me. "But that doesn't change the fact that you used a...spell on me that _forced_ me to want it."

Natori looked away, his gaze drifting from mine. He stepped to the sink and ran the water over a cloth. His voice dropped to a soft, almost plaintive whisper. "I just want so much to be with someone that...understands me." Loneliness, crushing loneliness was in his voice.

I winced in recognition. My anger drained away. "I know." I wiped the sweat from my brow. "I understand how you feel, believe me I do, but..." I looked up at him and put every drop of pleading I could into my expression. "But _this_ isn't the way to do it!"

He didn't say anything or even look at me. He merely used the cloth to wash himself, to wash away the results of our...coupling.

I heaved a sigh and limped toward the shower stall. "I'm gonna shower, and then we can talk okay?"

He knelt to clean the cum off the floor. "I'll leave your clothes on the bed."

I stepped into the shower and turned the water on scalding. Luckily, his shower stall had one of those removable shower heads like mine at home, so I was able to wash thoroughly. I also took the time to look for whatever the hell was on me.

I found what appeared to be some sort of writing looping around the base of my dick. My public hair hid it almost completely, but it was definitely there. The letters were small but fairly clear. However, I couldn't read the scrawling cursive words at all. It wasn't Japanese, Chinese, or even English. All I could do was hope that Nyanko-sensei knew what the hell it was -- and how to get rid of it. 

Wrapped in a towel, I stepped from the shower to find my clothes neatly folded at the foot of his bed. After dressing, I went into the main room.

To my surprise, Natori held out my coat and scarf. "How about we go downstairs for some hot chocolate?"

I took my coat from his hand and shrugged into it. "Fine." I was more than ready to take any excuse to get the hell out of there. 

~ * ~


	11. Chapter 11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Eleven ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The downstairs coffee shop wasn't large. It had only one row of booths by the windows on the right and a handful of small tables. The entire left wall was a service counter with a display of sandwiches and desserts. Natori led me to the booth by the windows in the corner farthest from the door. I think he honestly thought I’d bolt.

Truthfully, I honestly considered bolting, but since he was obviously going to let me go, I felt that inducing him to crush my dick would be stupid. Wearing my coat, though unbuttoned, my scarf looped loosely around my neck, and shouldering my book-bag, I slid into the seat opposite Natori.

A waitress in a white ruffle apron stopped by with a smile and took Natori's order for two cups of hot chocolate then walked away.

Natori set his elbow on the table and looked at me without a trace of a smile. "I know you're angry with me..."

I held his gaze. "No... _Really?_ "

He winced. "I just wanted a chance to get to know you."

I lifted my brow in open sarcasm. "Do you... _leash_ everyone you want to know?"

He shook his head. "As I said before, I honestly didn't think it would take." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "I'm from a family of exorcists. It was just one of those things that I learned along with...paper demon techniques."

The waitress returned with two mugs of hot chocolate.

I lifted my mug and blew on the steaming contents.

Natori thanked the waitress with a sunny smile then closed his hands around his mug. He looked over at me. "You really would make an excellent apprentice."

I didn't bother looking away from the chocolate in my hands. "Forget it."

He snorted and smiled sourly. "Gods, you're stubborn. What do you want? Money...?"

 _Money?_ I slammed the mug down hard, and glared coldly. Did he think I was some kind of whore that wanted to be paid for my _services_? I rose from my seat. "I'm going home."

He laughed softly. "No, no! I was only kidding! Damn, you're temperamental." He waved his hand indicating that I should sit back down.

A twinge around my dick warned that I'd better obey him. I sat back down, my glare firmly in place. My gaze was drawn to the downward-facing lizard tattoo on his neck. The position seemed...off from what I remembered.

Right before my eyes, the head turned to the left, then the whole thing turned, exactly as a true lizard until it pointed up. It _crawled_ across his neck, then up his jaw and onto his face.

I stared wide-eyed and I know my mouth fell open. A shiver raced up my spine.

Natori's brow lifted. "Hm?"

I didn't even blink, unable to believe what was seeing. "Your tattoo it... It moves?"

His eyes widened and he pointed to his face. "You can see this too?" He blinked in open astonishment. "Oh, wow that's... That's impressive." He shrugged and smiled. "It showed up when I was really young around my ankle. The next day I thought it had disappeared but found it on my left arm. It crawls all over my body." His smile soured. "Creepy, isn't it?"

Yes, it _was_ creepy -- it was creepy as hell. I couldn't stop staring at it.

He shook his head and waved in dismissal. "After a bit of investigation, mostly self-study, I discovered that it's some sort of spirit, though I still don't know what kind."

I frowned at him trying to comprehend what it would have been like if I'd discovered something like that crawling all over my body. "Does it...affect you?"

"Not that I've noticed. It's just creepy." He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "If it was sucking my life away, I suppose I'd be a bit more worried."

I couldn't believe he could dismiss that... _thing_ so easily. An unknown spirit was crawling all over his body! For all he knew it _could_ be shortening his life -- and he was _laughing_ about it? Angry, I rose from my seat. "It's _not_ funny!" I slammed my hands on the table. "If you don't know what it's doing, you _should_ be worried...!"

"Master...?" A woman's head with long black hair slid out of the ceiling as though surfacing from water. "Who is this rude brat?" The black hair snaked out like a whip to warp around my neck and my wrist. It pulled, hard.

I my elbows and chin slammed onto the table, bruising me and bringing stars to my eyes. The hair around my throat tightened viciously, cutting off my breath. My eyes watered and my vision ran. The stupid thing was strangling me! I grabbed onto to the hair with both hands and jerked on it, gasping hard to get some air into my lungs.

The few people seated in the shop looked over at us and whispered.

The waitress came running. "Sir? What's wrong?"

Natori smiled at the waitress, but it only went as far as his lips, his eyes were on me. "He's... He's just a little asthmatic. Could you get us some water, please?"

The waitress ran off.

Natori pulled his oval glasses from his jacket's breast pocket and slipped them onto his eyes. He glared briefly up the ceiling and snarled very softly. "I did _not_ ask you to act! Don't take the initiative. He's special to me. I won't tolerate this offense."

A creaky old man's voice spoke up right in front of me. " _You_ are the one who is offensive."

I knew that voice. My eyes were watering, but I could still make out the rounded butt and bob-tail of Nyanko-sensei sitting on the table right in front of me. He was here -- _finally_! I wanted to weep in sheer relief.

The cat's voice rumbled into a deep base that was closer to his other voice, the one that belonged to his true shape. "Don't speak so casually of _my_ prey, boy." There was a blinding flash.

Natori threw his arm up over his eyes.

The head squeaked in alarm and sank up into the ceiling.

The hair around my throat and wrist disintegrated. I gasped in a deep thankful breath, then grabbed the cat with both arms, snatched up my book-bag, and bolted for the door.

The waitress who was carrying a glass of water came toward me. "Sir! You can't bring a cat in here!"

My arms full of a squirming Nyanko-sensei, I grinned at her in passing. "We're leaving!"

Natori rose from his seat. "Wait...!"

The leash tightened around my dick and balls, but it wasn't anywhere near as crushingly powerful as before. It was snug and it pulled, but that was all. I yanked the door open. No way in hell was I waiting for that pervert.

The waitress grabbed Natori's sleeve. "Sir, the bill?"

Natori stared at her, then looked after me and shouted. "Tomorrow! The Nanatsuji park -- before sunset!"

The leash around my cock released. I slammed out of the shop and lunged onto the street. Despite the pain in several parts of my lower anatomy I ran. I was free -- until tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I couldn't keep running for long. The damned cat was heavy, but I simply couldn't put him down. I slowed to a trot and then a walk, the exhaustion that had been dragging at me all day finally catching up to me. What I needed to tell Nyanko-sensei weighed on my mind, but I couldn't think of a way to begin.

The cat crawled from my arms up onto my shoulder. He was surprisingly silent.

I turned onto my street. It was quiet, practically deserted, and perfect for the conversation I needed to have. I just hoped I could avoid going into detail. "Nyanko-sensei..."

The cat's old man voice creaked in my ear. "What did that rude brat do, Natsume?"

I sighed in relief and just spat it out. "He's got some kind of binding on me." My temper warmed, but I was too damned tired to really vent. "I can't refuse him anything. I can't even argue."

The cat grunted. "Nasty business those."

I glanced at him. "Can you get rid of it?"

The cat shrugged. "Depends on where it is. I'll need to see it."

I groaned and sagged. Once the cat saw where it was, plus all the rest of the marks on my body, it would pretty obvious what Natori had been doing to me. "When we get to my room."

Touko met me at the front door, her hair already escaping her bun and her blue kitchen smock spotted with flour. "Takashi..." She frowned, but her eyes were wide with concern. "Did something happen?"

I stepped out of my shoes and tried to keep the wince off my face. "No, no... I waited with Tanuma for his bus then I walked home through town and spoke to a friend." It was the truth, sort of.

Nyanko-sensei leaped off my shoulder and toddled toward the stairs, clearly heading to my room.

"You look exhausted." Touko's hands flew up to cup my face. "So warm... I knew I should have kept you home." She stepped back and her jaw tightened. "Bath and get ready for bed. I'll bring your supper up to you."

I smiled in my best imitation of a reassuring manner and pulled my scarf free from my neck. "No, its okay, I'm alright."

She tugged my book-bag from my shoulder and helped me out of my coat. "You are _not_ alright." She set a hand on my shoulder and gently railroaded me toward the stairs. "I'm keeping you home from school tomorrow, so no homework tonight. You can do it tomorrow after you've rested."

I sighed and gave in. "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled and patted my shoulder. "Good boy."

I climbed the stairs and went down the hall to my room.

The cat was sitting on his pillow where it rested on top of the table by the wall.

I went straight to my dresser and pulled out a pair of fleecy gray sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt. I looked over at the cat. "I'll show you in the bathroom." I tilted my head toward the door. I wanted to do this behind a door that locked.

Touko wasn't nosy, so to speak, but she did tend to open my bedroom door only seconds after her knock. She'd surprised me while I was changing on more than one occasion. She always averted her eyes, but I didn't want to take any chances, not with all the sucker-bite bruises still on my skin.

The cat toddled after me down the hall and into the bathroom. He hopped up on the counter next to the small sink.

I closed the door behind us and locked it, then turned to push the heavy cover off the steaming tub. I glanced at the cat then turned my back to him and took off my school uniform jacket. I tossed it into the hamper by the door and pulled up my t-shirt, revealing all the marks on my shoulders and arms. I tossed that into the hamper too, and unfastened my pants. I dropped them and my briefs, revealing the rest of the marks on my thighs and ass. Unable to look at him, I knelt to gather my pants and stuffed them into the hamper by the door.

The cat snorted and spoke in a deep voice that wasn't creaky or anything like an old man. "Show me the binding, Natsume."

My face burning with shame, I turned around.

The cat was not on the counter. Instead, a tall male leaned against it with his heavily muscled arms crossed over his broad chest. He wore a long scarlet, copper, and gold autumn leaf patterned robe with a blood red sash loosely knotted around the hips.

He was definitely _not_ human. His skin was milk-pale and obscenely long fluffy white hair draped his shoulders to spill down his back. Scarlet outlined eyes that were the color of gold coins in a face that was sculpted masculine perfection. Scarlet slashes marked his cheeks, and a spiral paw-like mark rested between his brows. However, most telling was the fluffy white tail that had to be twice as long as he was tall. It was curled around his long boned feet with toes that ended in curved claws.

I blinked in open-mouthed shock. "Nyanko-sensei?"

He smiled, revealing fangs. One silver brow lifted. "I keep telling you I'm not a cat." His smile faded and he nodded. "Show me the binding."

My face hotter than it had ever been in my life, and completely unable to meet the breathtakingly beautiful creature's gaze, I pointed at the base of my dick. "It's here."

He stepped forward and knelt.

My heart slammed in my chest. I closed my eyes tight. I did _not_ want to see that gorgeous face and that sinful mouth so close to...me. I began doing multiplication tables in my mind.

The creature growled softly, his heated breath brushing against my bare belly. "As I thought -- a damned sorcerer."

I swallowed and did _not_ open my eyes. "Can you get rid of it?"

The creature snorted. " _You_ will have to break the binding."

 _I_ had to break it. _Wonderful..._ I sighed heavily. "How?"

"Human bindings are notoriously weak. Avoid him from this sunset to next and it will shatter."

"Avoid him. Is that all?" I curled my lip in bitterness. "Well, gee, I just have to endure a crushed dick, but that shouldn't be too high a price to pay."

He chuckled. "You merely need a very good distraction."

"A distraction...?"

He grunted in agreement. "This type of binding reacts directly in proportion to the level of lust you feel. It's far weaker when your desires are satisfied."

That actually made sense, considering that after I’d jumped Kaname Tanuma, the binding on me had been barely noticeable. Also, when Natori had called out to me in the coffee shop, the binding had tightened, but hadn't actually caused any real pain compared to earlier when I’d been...erect.

"Oh, so I just need to keep from getting...excited?" I opened my eyes and gazed at the creature kneeling so close to me. His head was almost even with mine; he was _that_ tall. However, my eyes were drawn to the sight of his raised knee. It had parted his red robe and was providing an amazing view of his bare muscular thigh, almost to the crotch. _Talk about exciting..._ My mouth watered with the urge to run my tongue along those long pale muscles.

"Not quite." He lifted his golden gaze to mine. "This binding is designed specifically to provoke lust when activated. As long as you satisfy the lust it induces, it will lose its potency. Physical distance helps too." He rose to his feet, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. His eyes narrowed and his sudden smile showed fangs. "Now then, why don't you tell me how that sorcerer got his hands on you in the first place?"

"Eh..." I took a hasty step back, but there really wasn't anywhere to go. The bathroom wasn't large by any means.

A knock came on the door.

I nearly jumped out of my skin and barely bit back a startled yelp.

Touko's voice called out though it was slightly muffled. "Takashi, when you're finished with your bath, I'll bring you some soup, alright?"

I looked over at the door just to make sure it was locked. "Yes, thank you ma'am!" I'm proud to say that my voice didn't waver -- much.

She chuckled. "Now, don't fall asleep in the tub!"

"I won't." The sound of retreating footsteps let me know that she was walking back down the hall. I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't need her hearing anything I was saying.

"I definitely agree that you need a bath." The tall elegant creature that had once been a pudgy cat stepped past me to turn on the shower. Steam quickly filled the room.

I stared at him in open shock. I'd had no idea he even knew how to work the shower.

He turned to look at me with narrowed eyes and a curled lip that exposed one long fang. "You reek of that damned sorcerer." He reached out almost faster than I could see, grabbed my arm with one of his clawed hands, and practically threw me into the shower stall and under the steaming water. 

~ * ~


	12. Chapter 12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twelve ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bodily thrown into the shower stall by the cat, who was most definitely _not_ a cat, I barely threw up my hands in time to keep my face from getting bashed into the tile wall. That's when I discovered that the water was scalding hot. My skin turned bright red on contact. "Ow! Shit!" Hissing in pain, I threw myself out of the direct spray and grabbed for the cold water knob. It wasn't even on. I twisted it hard to get the water down to a temperature I could bear.

The almost seven-foot tall, white-haired being co-occupying my bathroom snorted. "Princess."

I shot him a scowl, but grabbed for the long-handled scrub brush and the bar of yellow soap. Truthfully, I did want to bathe very badly. Despite the shower I had taken in Natori's hotel room, I didn't feel clean at all. I could still feel his fingers on my skin. I started scrubbing with a vengeance.

The white-haired _youkai_ walked over to the tub and sat on the edge. "I'm still waiting to hear how you foolishly ended up entangled with that sorcerer." 

I froze, scrub brush raised over my back. I stepped back to catch the creature's eye and gave him my most vicious glare. "Look, Cat..."

He smiled, flashing his fangs. "Madara. My name is Madara."

I waved the scrub brush in dismissal, scattering foam. "Fine, Madara! I didn't go to him, he sent a paper demon into the house after _me_!"

Madara's silver brows came together and a growl rumbled from him. "When?"

I glanced at him. "Last night while you were gone."

His frown deepened. " _That_ should not have been able to get past the barrier to enter in the house."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, it was in the hall when I found it, then it slid through my closed door into my bedroom. I jumped out the window to get it out of the house." Chilled by the memory, I stepped back under the warm spray. "It caught me, but I broke loose. That's when Natori stepped out of the bushes." I averted my face and started scrubbing again. "And he told me he could see spirits like I could."

Madara snorted. "And distracted by his sweet words, you allowed him to seduce you."

I swallowed. I didn't want to admit to any such thing, but... "Yeah."

Madara shook his head and chuckled. "Well, that answers _that_ question."

I looked over at the tall white-haired youkai and frowned. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

He dodged my gaze and waved his hand. "Never mind." His suddenly looked back at me. "Were you bleeding?"

I blinked. "Just from where the paper scratched me." Some of those scratches were still etched on my skin. "He didn't actually hurt me."

Madara flashed a smile. "Oh, so you _like_ it a little rough?"

I glared. "What?"

Madara heaved a deep sigh and waved his hand. "Not important!" He scrubbed a clawed hand through his white mane. "So, the brat used blood and semen."

There was nothing to add to that, so I didn't. I turned away and kept scrubbing everywhere that man had touched until my skin was raw.

Madara didn't speak, but then as Nyanko-sensei, it wasn't unusual for him to lapse into long silences every now and again.

Eventually the water turned cold on me and I was forced to shut it off. I stepped out of the shower stall finally ready to soak in the bath, only to find a crumpled pile of red silk on the floor and the tub already occupied.

Madara, still in his tall masculine form, was stretched out in the bath with his arms perched on the rim on either side, head back and his eyes closed. His robe was on the floor so he was clearly naked. A soft rumbling that sounded suspiciously like a purr emanated from his chest.

I folded my arms and tried very hard not to shiver in the slight chill. "Do you mind? I’d like to soak in my tub."

Madara turned to look at me with hooded eyes. "I don't mind at all." He lifted a long pale muscular leg and set his ankle on the far edge. He _filled_ the tub. He waved toward the water and a smile curved his lips. "Come on in."

The mere thought of being in that tub with such an incredibly beautiful _naked_ man held me frozen in place for several heartbeats. Long enough for heat to trickle down to my dick and that place deep in my gut gave a small tight lurch of interest.

Then my sense kicked in.

The son of a bitch was _teasing_ me! My temper flared white-hot. I was far too exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically to have any patience with that creature's games. I smiled, walked over, and slammed my fist down on the top of his head.

He yelped like a puppy and popped into curls of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Nyanko-sensei in his small and chubby calico cat form, floated in the steaming water.

I scooped him out, tossed him onto the bath rug, then climbed into the tub. I sank to my neck with a moan of sheer bliss. 

The cat moaned in his creaky old-man's voice. "That was mean, Natsume!"

I curled my lip. "So was your teasing."

The cat sat up on the bath mat to shake like a dog, scattering water. "Who was teasing?" He aimed a fierce feline pout at me. "I meant it!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right." As if something _that_ incredibly beautiful, would be interested in a bony human brat? _Not likely_! Even Natori's interest in me was purely because he wanted an apprentice that could see the spirits he worked with.

However, Kaname had said I was hot.

That brought a smile to my lips -- and an idea. "So, I need distance and a distraction right?"

The cat tilted his head to the side and a frown curved his tiny mouth. "Yes."

I nodded and smiled. "Good." I leaned back in the tub and closed my eyes. "I know exactly what to do now." Kaname would help me. I could even tell him the truth -- that a sorcerer had put a binding on me and was trying to seduce me into being his apprentice. Of course, I had no intention of telling him that it was Natori. I didn't want Kaname to hate him.

Truthfully, despite all he'd done to me, I didn't hate Natori. He was so much like me I _couldn't_ hate him. I understood his loneliness, his fear, and his private battles all too well. I'd been there myself, so I knew exactly how he felt. I honestly thought that we could even be friends. Well, after he got it through his thick skull that I was _not_ a pet to be kept at the end of a leash.

With Kaname's help, I would break that binding and show Natori that I was not to be taken lightly.

The cat toddled up to the tub and set his tiny paws up on the side of the tub to peer at my face. "What are you planning?"

I looked over at the cat with sleep-heavy eyes. "I'm planning to go to bed and sleep like the dead." The absolute truth.

The cat tisked in annoyance. "The binding, idiot! What are you planning to do about the binding?"

"Oh, that." I smiled lazily. "I think I'll go do some homework with a friend who lives a good hour away from here by bus." And then watch TV in his room, so to speak.

The cat snorted and one ear tipped back. "That won't work."

My smile broadened. "Sure it will."

The cat dropped onto the rug and turned away to lick at his paws. "You'll see."

I chuckled and closed my eyes to enjoy the heat of the bath sinking in and relaxing my sore muscles -- among other abused parts of my anatomy.

About an hour later, I stepped out of the tub barely able to stand from the lethargy caused by the heat. My fingers and toes were wrinkled beyond prune. I pulled on my warm gray sweats, then pulled the plug in the tub to drain the water. That done, I hung my towels up to dry, shut off the light, then padded barefoot out of the bathroom and into the hall.

My feet dragged all the way to my room. When I slid the door open, I discovered that Touko had unrolled my futon and laid out the blankets and pillow for me. I smiled at her kindness then flopped face-down on the thick comforter and groaned.

A knock came on the door frame. "Takashi, I have your supper."

I rolled over and struggled to sit up. "Yes, um... Come in!"

Touko came in with a bowl on a tray with short legs. "I've made you some miso and chicken soup." After fussing me under the covers properly, she knelt by the futon, set the tray across my lap, and proceeded to fuss me into eating every bite of the soup.

Somehow, I remembered to tell her that I’d been invited to do homework with the younger Tanuma. I even had his phone number in my wallet, or rather Mr. Tanuma's card from the temple.

She smiled, took the card, and assured me that's she'd call Mr. Tanuma and confirm it.

We spoke of other things too, but unfortunately, that's all I remember of our conversation. I was _that_ tired. By the time the soup was finished, I could hardly keep my eyes open. 

Touko patted me on the head, helped me under the covers, and shut out the light.

I was unconscious before her footsteps faded.

Once again, my dreams were filled with shadows and accusing voices. "Liar..."

I jerked awake in the dark with tears streaming down my cheeks and loneliness squeezing around my heart hard enough to ache. I wiped my wet cheeks with my sleeve and rolled over onto my side.

Curled up on the edge of my blanket was the cat. His open eyes gleamed.

Relief surged through me. I was _not_ alone in a world no one saw, but me -- not anymore. I reached out to stroke him. His fur was soft under my fingers, and warm.

The cat closed his eyes and purred.

I closed my eyes to go back asleep. However, I couldn't help but think that Natori felt exactly the same loneliness I did for exactly the same reasons. That didn't excuse what he had done to me, but as soon as the binding was gone, I fully intended to sit down with him and have a long talk.

~ * ~

I awoke just after noon feeling better than I had in days. Most of the smaller bruises around my upper arms and thighs had faded to pale yellow. However, the mark on my neck had gone vivid red, purple, and blue with yellow accents. Luckily, it was actually cold outside, so I was able to get away with a black turtle-neck under my blue hooded sweatshirt. Best of all, my...lower region had recovered enough to sit comfortably.

I spent the early afternoon studying, then helping Touko with some of the household chores including the laundry.

While pulling sheets from the dryer, Touko let me know that she had indeed called Mr. Tanuma. Apparently, he would be very pleased to have me stop by to help Kaname with his homework. He had assured her that I would be on the nine PM bus, which would get me home in time for a proper family dinner.

That suited my plans perfectly. Since it was still early autumn, sunset was around six PM. By nine, the binding would be gone and I'd be free.

Just before four o'clock, when school normally let out, I walked to bus stop just a block away from the house. It was actually cold enough to need my heavy brown coat and my green scarf. My breath plumed from my lips in the chilly air. I shoved my hands into my pockets, very glad that my book bag was actually a backpack instead of the more common briefcase-style.

At the bus stop, the cat sat down at my side.

I looked down at him. "I don't think they allow cats on the bus."

He scowled up at me. "You're going to that temple aren't you?"

I nodded. "I figured I'd be safe--"

"No." The cat shook his over-sized head. "A temple barrier will hold back spirits, but it won't stop a human sorcerer. They use _sutras_ the same way as a priest."

I smiled grimly. "He has to find me first, and Eight Fields is several miles away."

The cat shook his head. "A few miles is nothing. I could be there in a matter of minutes."

I snorted. "Yes, but you can fly." Or rather his monstrous dog form could fly. "As far as I know, _he_ can't."

The cat heaved a dramatic sigh and stood up on his four tiny paws. "I'll be waiting for you when you get back." He turned away. "We'll discuss it then." He toddled off.

I watched him go with a frown. Did he know something I didn't?

About ten minutes later, the nearly antique diesel bus roared to the stop. The bus was late, but then it wasn't known for ever being on time. I climbed on to find a smiling Kaname waiting for me.

~ * ~


	13. Chapter 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Thirteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While riding the bus out to Eight Fields, the passing farmlands and the forested mountains were bright with autumn colors, but I didn't notice it. Kaname held all of my attention. I'd forgotten how damned good-looking he really was -- raven-wing black hair, midnight eyes, broad shoulders... My body warmed with awareness, and anticipation.

Conversation was light. We talked about what stupid things some of my classmates had done that day, complained about a few of the teachers, and discussed what he was having problem with in class. We talked about normal stuff, safe stuff, stuff that wouldn't alarm the other passengers.

A walk to Eight Fields, when one isn't taking the scenic route to hide the destination from an irascible cat, takes just over an hour. The bus with its stops here and there, took only half an hour, not that I was paying attention. The bus abruptly squealed to yet another halt.

Kaname rose from his seat with a sly smile. "Shall we go?"

Startled, I rose to follow him. I really _hadn't_ been paying attention.

We stepped off the bus only ten minutes walk from the temple stairs -- and right in front of the field where I'd first met Natori. A feeling of foreboding came over me and my heart thumped in my chest. I stopped to look over at the mountainous horizon. The sun was low enough to stain the clouds in red, gold, and violet. I was running out of time. Sometime soon, Natori would realize that I wasn't going to show up at the park and invoke the binding.

"Oi! Takashi, you coming?"

I turned to find that Kaname was already well up the road. I trotted to catch up to his side. "Kaname, I need your help with a problem."

Kaname blinked then smiled. "Sure, what's the problem?"

I ducked my chin into my scarf. I could quite meet his eye. "Would you believe my problem is a _sorcerer?_ "

Kaname's jaw tightened. "Actually, I would."

I looked over at him wide-eyed. "You believe me?"

Kaname nodded. "There's one that stops by the temple every now and again to look through the archives. He smiles a lot, and he's polite, but underneath..." He glanced over at me and smiled sourly. "I keep waiting for him to offer me candy and a ride in his car."

I was suddenly reminded of what he'd said at school. " _He looks like one of those that would tempt you with candy then drag you into a car_." His sorcerer sounded an awful lot like Natori.

I licked my dry lips. Suddenly, it was that much harder to say anything. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice. I _had_ to tell him. I couldn't just... _use_ him selfishly. I couldn't be that cold. "He didn't offer me candy." 

Kaname turned to blink at me. "What?"

A passing gray car forced the both of us off the road and onto the grass along the edge. I used that as an excuse to tuck my chin deeper into my scarf and hide the embarrassment heating my face. "He sent a paper demon after me just to see if I could see it."

Kaname stopped cold. " _What_...?"

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. "He wants..." I couldn't say _a lover_ , though it was pretty damned obvious from the marks on me. "He wants an apprentice and put a binding on me so I couldn't refuse."

Kaname's eyes widened. "A binding...?"

I started walking along the road's edge. I didn't want to see his expression. "He did it the night before last."

"The night before...?" Kaname stretched his stride to catch up to me. "Wait, those bruises... _He_ put them on you? He's the one who...?"

I nodded but kept walking. I still couldn't look at him.

Kaname ducked his head openly trying to catch my eye. "And you're saying it wasn't...?"

"It _wasn't_." I flashed him a mild glare. I wasn't _that_ weak! If Natori had tried to rape me, I would have punched him in the head and kicked him in the balls, simple as that. "It was mutual, okay?"

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure." 

I shook my head. "Anyway, I need your help to break the binding."

Kaname grunted. "What do you need me to do?"

I stopped to look up at him in shock. "You'll help me?"

Kaname snorted and smiled. "Sure. That's what friends are for, idiot." He looped his arm around my neck and dragged me the last twenty feet to the stone slab steps that climbed the hill to the temple. "Do I have to do anything disgusting?"

I grabbed onto his strangling arm and laughed, giddy with relief. "No nothing disgusting, unless you don't like...watching TV in your room?" Hopefully he'd remember his own reference.

Kaname stopped to blink down at me, then gave me a wicked smile. "I'd be delighted." He practically dragged me up the steps under the red-painted arches.

He'd clearly gotten the reference. I coughed pointedly. He wasn't quite choking me, but it was close.

Kaname let his arm slip from my throat to rest it across my shoulders. "Weird... I've never heard of anyone using... _that_ to break a spell."

Climbing the steps at a much slower rate, I rubbed my throat and gave him a sour smile. " _That's_ not what breaks it. I just have to avoid the guy 'til after sunset and the binding will break by itself, but to make it past sunset I need a distraction from what the binding does to me."

Kaname blinked. "Oh? What does it do?"

"Well, it makes me...err..." Gods! Why was this so hard to say? I took a deep breath. "It's wrapped around my dick, okay?"

"Oh." He frowned then his eyes opened wide. " _Oh!_ Then that time back in the classroom, when we--" He cleared his throat. "That was because of... _that_?"

My face heated. "That's what got me... _that_ way, yes."

He curled his lip in a sneer. "Then it _is_ that guy."

I nodded. No use in denying it.

"So his binding makes you...horny?" Kaname bumped my shoulder lightly.

I rolled my eyes and bumped him back. "It also crushes...me if I disobey a direct order."

He winced. "Ouch." He then rolled his eyes. "Still, it's not very...practical." He gave me a sly grin. "I would have at least made it track where you went."

The words were barely out of Kaname's mouth when the damned thing around my dick came to vicious life and squeezed. I was only half hard so it didn't bring me to my knees, but it did make me bend over, and gasp. "Shit!"

Kaname's eyes widened. "Takashi?"

"It _does_ track him." Ten steps above us, Natori stepped from the trees and onto the stairs wearing his signature gray wool coat and a soft gray hat to cover his bright hair. Light gleamed on his oval glasses. He smiled almost sweetly. "Imagine my surprise when I realized that young Natsume was all the way out here, instead of where I asked him to be."

Two dark-robed spirit women appeared on either side of Kaname and me.

The one with long black hair and a mark on her brow slid behind Kaname.

Alarmed, I lunged to grab his arm. "Kaname...!"

Faster than the eye could see, her hair snaked out to wrap around Kaname. She yanked him back against one of the arch posts lining the stairs and wrapped her hair around him, effectively tying him to it.

The one with the blindfold, curling hair, and curving horns appeared directly in front of me. She shoved me bone-jarringly hard back against the opposite post of the arch and smiled nastily at me. "Hello brat."

The one with the hair holding Kaname eyed her prisoner then looked at me with her lip curled in open derision. "Involving others? How selfish."

Eyes wide and his face white, Kaname looked around, obviously aware that the spirits were there, but it was also apparent that he couldn't see them very clearly, or hear them.

I glared at Natori. "Let him go! He has nothing to do with this."

Natori started down the steps. "Oh, I agree. This has nothing to do with young Tanuma at all." His voice was light and pleasant, almost friendly, but his eyes narrowed at Kaname. "He'll be released once we leave."

The spirit woman that held me giggled.

Kaname's jaw tightened. "You can't just _take_ him! Natsume is not your property...!"

The woman that held Kaname tightened her hair around Kaname's throat.

His air cut off, Tanuma choked.

Terrified, I pushed at the woman in front of me. "Leave him alone! _Stop it!_ " A flash of blinding light enveloped me.

The spirit with the horns squealed and whirled out of my way.

I lunged for Kaname. "Let him go!"

Natori's voice lashed out. "Stop!"

The leash around my dick tightened viciously. I cried out and collapsed, curling up in the middle of the step.

Natori snorted. "That was foolish." He looked over at the hair woman. "Ease up on the throat. He's only human."

The hair unwrapped from around Kaname's throat.

Natori stepped down to stand between us, his smile still bright, though his eyes were flint hard. He turned to face Kaname. "My apologies young Tanuma, my servants tend to be rather...enthusiastic."

Kaname sucked in several deep breaths then glared at Natori. "Natsume is _not_ your servant."

Natori's brow lifted.

Gasping from the crushing pain around my dick, but terrified of what Natori might do to Kaname -- or allow his spirits to do to him, I caught his eye and shook my head sharply. "Tanuma, just...go home." I couldn't let him get hurt because of me.

Kaname swallowed and nodded briefly.

Natori's smile broadened. "Good boy." He turned to look down at me. I could tell by the set of his eyes that despite the smile on his lips, he was furious. "Let's go, Takashi. It's nearly Sunset."

The leash eased up on my dick enough to allow me to stand.

Natori's fingers closed on the back of my coat collar. He started down the stairs hauling me along at a fairly quick trot.

Frustration, anger, and humiliation burned in me. I wanted to fight him, in fact it was entirely possible that I could break free and run, but not while Kaname was still being held by one of his spirits. I couldn't take the chance that Natori would unleash his anger on Kaname.

At the bottom of the stairs, Natori pulled me hard to the right toward a small gray Honda sedan parked just off the road under the trees. It was the same car from that first night.

I winced at my stupidity. I'd completely forgotten that Natori had a car. No wonder he'd made it out to Eight Fields so fast.

Natori's hand slid down from my collar to grip the upper arm of my coat sleeve. With a hard jerk, he turned me to face him. "Why must you always disobey?" He grabbed the shoulders of my coat and bodily shoved me backwards. "Do you _want_ me to punish you?"

I tripped back and came up against the front passenger door. I fisted my hands at my sides and glared up at him. "I _want_ you to release the binding." Over his shoulder, I could see the rim of the bright orange sun disappearing over the mountains. He only had seconds left to reset the binding. If I could just hold out a bit longer...

With his free hand, he yanked off his glasses and his gaze narrowed. "I put it there for a reason." He shoved the glasses into his breast coat pocket then started opening the buttons on my coat. "So far you've done nothing but prove that I was right in doing so." His thigh slid between my legs and ducked his head clearly intended a kiss.

I rose up on my toes to get my crotch away from his leg and turned my face away. _Just a little bit longer..._! "Did you ever think that I might be a lot more reasonable if it _wasn't_ there?"

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to face him. "No." He dug his fingers into the joints of my jaw.

The pain was sharp and intense enough to make my eyes water and force my mouth to open. A small cry of pain passed my lips. I grabbed onto his wrist.

His mouth crashed onto mine and his tongue surged in.

A pulse around the base of my cock told me point blank that I had failed. The binding was still in place.

His free hand slid under my shirt and sweatshirt to grasp my nipple. He ground his thigh up against my crotch.

The sharp tug on my nipple, and the rough pleasure of his leg pressing right up against my dick combined with the sensual slide of his skilled tongue against mine. Despite my anger and frustration, the mix of sensations triggered a near violent throb of lust deep in my bowels. I hardened so fast my mind emptied and my tensed muscles went slack in greedy surrender. A moan slipped from my throat.

He pulled his mouth from mine trailing saliva, and stepped back with a chilling smirk.

My knees tried to buckle. I had to grab onto the roof of the car to keep from falling. My eyes wouldn't focus and my heart beat so loudly I could barely hear past it.

Natori slid his arm around my waist and eased me to the side. He opened the passenger door with a subtle clack. He turned and his lips brushed my ear. "Get in."

Honestly, I don't remember getting into the car and I only have the briefest recollection of riding in it, but I do remember Natori grabbing my coat collar to pull me out of my seat and into tall grass.

I blinked and realized that I was standing in the waist high grass of some field. The sky was the brilliant cobalt blue of twilight, the stars only just appearing. Apparently, I'd only been out of it for a few moments, which meant Natori hadn't driven far at all. The car was on my immediate left parked in the deep shadows of the row of large trees behind me.

Natori came around the front of the car, apparently from the driver's side, and smiled happily. There was even a hint of sparkles. "This is where we met."

I looked around and realized that he was right. This was the field we'd met in only two days ago. This meant I was only a five minute walk from the road -- and fifteen from the steps of the temple.

His smile curled into an openly lascivious smirk. "That first moment you fell into my arms, I wanted you. I very nearly threw you on the ground and raped you right then." He licked his lips. "What do you say we relive that first moment together, hmm?"

A shiver of awareness raised the small hairs on the back of my neck, but it had nothing to do with Natori. Something was in the trees right behind me -- something _not_ human, and very powerful. Oddly, it actually felt vaguely familiar.

A feminine screech of anger came from the direction of the road. Two swirls of light came blazing toward us.

Natori whipped around to look up the hill. "What...?"

In that instant, a huge white muzzle with long dagger like teeth came out of the trees behind me to grab the back of my coat. I was yanked hard backwards into the shadows.

I didn't even have time to scream.

~ * ~


	14. Chapter 14

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Fourteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was swung through the air by the back of my coat in an entirely too familiar fashion and then landed face-first in a froth of entirely too familiar white silky fur. I grabbed the first double handful of fur I came in contact with and immediately starting climbing up the rolling bony spine of the monstrous loping beast beneath me. "N-Nyanko-sensei?"

With a low growl, the huge white head lifted and a triangular ear tilted in my direction. "I am _not_ a cat -- and watch where you're digging your feet in!"

"Fine, fine...Madara." I continued my climb over the churning and equally bony shoulders to seat myself astride the far more comfortable neck. With my butt and crotch no longer in danger of severe bruising, I sat up to peer between the triangular white ears of the giant beast. "You came for me?"

The body beneath me rumbled with deep bone-jarring chortles. "A good theft, eh Natsume? That damned sorcerer didn't even have time to call out your name!"

I sighed into the fur between his ears. "I didn't break the binding."

"Obviously. Hang on!" The great beast gathered himself and leapt into the air to skim the treetops, moving swiftly, but not nearly as fast as I knew he was capable.

The wind at that speed was icy. I ducked my face into the soft warm fur before my face could become wind-burned. "Where are we going?" I shook my head in disgust. "Never mind, it doesn't matter where we go, he'll still find me."

Thunderous laughter rolled from the beast's gigantic throat. "Finding you and _reaching_ you are two entirely different matters. For now, we are going where he cannot reach, and then it's merely a matter of keeping you out of reach until the binding breaks."

My fingers tightened in Madara's fur. "He has a car. No matter where I go, he'll get to me."

Madara tilted his head so that one huge golden eye could look back at me. "So little faith." In a burst of blue-white light, the beast launched himself nearly straight up into the sky and then soared straight for the high forested ridges of the mountains that ringed the town.

I wound his fur around my hands and dug my heels into the sides of his neck to keep from being sheared off by the wind. The air was viciously cold and burned in my nose and down my throat. I buried my face in his fur simply to breathe.

Madara's insane speed slowed to a mere glide past the sheer cliffs along the mountain's side then eased into an almost gentle hover. He dropped lightly onto a broad cliff-side ledge blanketed by thick frost-seared yellow grass. Far below, the town was merely a scattering of tiny lights. The view was actually quite spectacular.

I then noticed that the binding was vibrating a little, which was a bit...stirring, but it wasn't tugging or squeezing at all. I frowned. "He isn't pulling on me."

Madara turned his huge head just enough to regard me with one golden eye. "Your sorcerer is most likely trying to follow us."

I looked over the edge of the cliff. Quite clearly, there was no way down -- or up. "Well he certainly won't be able to reach me here."

The beast rolled his eyes. " _He_ might not, but such a height will not deter his slaves. Once he realizes that he can't reach you himself, he'll send his slaves to collect you."

I bared my teeth. "If they try, they'll get a fist in the face! No way in hell am I going anywhere with them." 

The beast woofed out a steaming snort. "If you honestly think you have a choice in the matter, clearly he has not yet used the binding to its full potential."

I frowned. "Why, what does it do?"

Madara looked out over the town. "The master invocation of any binding is a summons which takes complete control of the body. Whether you want to or not, you _will_ go to him, unless someone else takes drastic measures to keep you from leaving."

"Why would he even bother...doing that?" I scowled. "All he has to do is wait for me to go to school tomorrow and get me then."

"Clearly, you underestimate how much that sorcerer lusts after you." The great beast's black lips lifted to show his long, long teeth in a frightening parody of a smile. "I did steal you before he could...indulge in his appetites."

My face heated. "I think it's less... _that_ and more that he's just...lonely." I looked down at the lights of the town far below us. All those people, yet none of them saw what I saw, or knew the things I knew -- except one. "It's...hard being the only one of your kind. Not that I _like_ being...leashed, but I can understand why he wants my company."

The beast growled and laid his ears back flat. "You're a fool if you believe that sorcerer merely wants your company." He shook sharply under me in an open request for me to dismount.

I slid from Madara's neck and immediately regretted it. It was bitterly cold on that cliff and his fur was very thick and warm. The wind cut right through my coat. I shivered hard and hastily covered my face with my scarf, but it was still hard to breathe. "What more could he want from me? He doesn't know about the _Book_."

Madara stepped between the edge and me, his fur sweeping against my coat and cutting off the wind. "Seduction is the easiest way to tame any being -- spirit or human, but in your case, I strongly suspect that _he_ may have been the one seduced." He swept past me and strode off in his smooth rolling gait that was more feline than canine. His insanely long white tail snaked behind him. "This way, Natsume."

"He... _what_?" I trotted after him. "I didn't do a damned thing to him! He came after me all on his own!"

The great beast snorted in open derision. "You underestimate your allure."

I shook my head, while trying to cover my face with my scarf. "I'm just a...guy. I'm not even all that attractive!" Not the way Kaname Tanuma was anyway.

Madara stopped to let me catch up. "You need to stop looking at only the surface of things." He continued along the ledge, his huge body protecting me from the wind. "The reason we spirits want to devour you is for what you have _within_ you. If you think that sorcerer can't sense it too, you are sadly mistaken." His head turned and his golden eye narrowed on me. "You _do_ know that there is more than one definition to the word _devour_?"

I eyed him somewhat uneasily. Lady Hinoe, the spirit that had declared herself in love with my grandmother Reiko, had said on more than one occasion that she enjoyed 'devouring' young girls, but she didn't eat them, she seduced them. He _couldn't_ be referring to... _that_? At least I hoped he wasn't referring to _that_. "Eh..."

Madara turned into the wide mouth of a cave half hidden by scraggly trees. His body began to glow. Not brightly, merely a mild luminescence that was just enough to allow me to see where I was going without tripping. "In case you didn't know, there are two ways to consume a being. One way is all at once." He snapped his massive jaws and licked his lips with a loud slurp.

The illustration was perfectly clear. I swallowed hard.

"The other way takes only small amounts. Compare it to the way one would gather fruit from a tree. Once the fruit is ripe, one can either cut the tree down and devour the whole thing, leaf, branch and root as well as the fruit, or take only the fruit leaving the tree to grow more." He eyed me and his lips curled up in a toothy grin. "Guess which I prefer?"

I eyed him back, but said nothing. I got his analogy, but I wasn't quite sure what he meant by it. Truthfully, I wasn't quite sure I _wanted_ to know what he meant by it.

The cave tunnel snaked sharply to the right, then the left, cutting off the wind completely. It became noticeably warmer. The tunnel abruptly opened into a wide cavern that contained a small brook running right through the middle of it. A broad crack in the cavern ceiling shed a small amount of starlight on what appeared to be a small old-fashioned house roofed in moss-covered slate rather than curved tile.

Madara padded toward the tiny building, his long claws clicking on the cave floor.

I squinted at it, trying to make out the shape. It was so small it looked like a tea house, but who would put a tea house in a cave? "Is that an old Shinto shrine?"

Madara's eye rolled back to regard me. "Once upon a time, it was." With a poof of boiling smoke, the monstrous beast disappeared. "The tunnel from the valley collapsed many human life-times ago. No one comes here now." He stepped from the smoke tall, elegant, milk pale and almost human in red-gold robes that swept the ground. His obscenely long silver hair spilled to his thighs. An incredibly long, fluffy white tail trailed from under the hem his robes and seemed to move with a mind of its own.

He turned and smiled at me with golden eyes lined in scarlet, each cheekbone bearing three slashes of the same hue. The scarlet paw-print scrawl I was used to seeing on the head of his beast's form was centered on his brow, the long wavy tail of the mark trailing to the bridge of his nose. "This was once dedicated to a sky dog." He winked.

My mouth fell open. "This is _your_ shrine?"

He looked away and shrugged very casually. "Is it so hard to believe?"

I winced. Clearly, I'd wounded his pride. "Um, actually no, not if they saw your true form."

He lifted his chin, his gaze focusing on the house we approached. "Once, there were many humans who could see us." He glanced at me. "Now they are very few." About twenty paces from the front of the building, Madara stopped. He raised his hands, clapped them together loudly, then pulled them apart in a wide expansive gesture. He barked out a word that I couldn't have repeated if I’d tried.

Within the tiny house, blue light bloomed, spilling out from the edges of the shuttered windows on either side of the door and at the sides. Wood rattled and rumbled. With a loud crack, the window shutters slid aside to reveal latticed rice-paper windows blazing with bright blue light. The door between the front windows slid sideways and slammed open. Blinding light blazed from within.

I threw my arm up over my eyes to block the glare. "What's going on?"

Madara chuckled. "Just making a few adjustments in time and space."

I peeked past my arm to look up at him. "Time and space?"

The blue light cast violet shadows on his face. He smiled sourly, a hint of a fang overlapping his bottom lip, and snorted. "You didn't honestly think spirits lived in the same reality as humans, did you?"

I blinked at him. "There's more than one _reality_?"

Madara rolled his golden eyes. "Idiot boy, of course there is! The world is made up of many realities all sitting one on top of the other, like the many skins of an onion. You humans exist here. Spirits come from the next one over. In fact, I am not even made of the same substance as you. Without a container created on _this_ side to hold me, my power bleeds away until I am forced to return to my own world to recover, or perish."

Obviously, the container he was referring to was his luck-cat form. "I had no idea. You've been spending an awful lot of time on this side." _With me_.

"I do return every now and again. Where do you think I do my drinking?" He abruptly grinned, showing his upper and lower fangs. "The other option is eating something born in this world, but that only works for a short period of time."

My eyes widened. "Is that why so many spirits like to eat people?"

He shook his head. "It's not that we _like_ to..." He winced. "No wait, some actually do." He shrugged and waved a hand. "It's that if we stay too long on this side, we _have_ to -- or die. It doesn't have to be a human. Plants and animals work too."

Suddenly a few other spirit oddities fell into place. "Is that why I've seen some spirits eating flowers?"  

He nodded. "Exactly, and also why I eat Touko's cooking." He waved his hand toward the blazing house. "The shrine marks the door I use to go between worlds. Since you cannot go there, not as you are now anyway, I'm creating an overlap, a bubble that exists within both, yet not wholly in either." He turned to smile at me. "By being in a place that is literally 'neither here nor there' so to speak, you will be safely out of reach of both the sorcerer and his slaves." He rolled his golden eyes and sighed. "Among other greedy pursuers."

It made sense, if I didn't think too hard about it. "Oh..." I then noted that he had somehow neatly avoided mentioning why he spent so much time on this side, the human side of reality. However, before I could consider any further thoughts on the matter, I was distracted.

There was a sliding motion around the base of my dick. The binding wasn't tightening, or pulling -- it was _moving_. It felt like it was...unwinding. I could definitely feel some sort of...end moving about like the head of a snake -- or a lizard. Suddenly unnerved, I shivered hard. "Nyanko-- Err, Madara...?"

The white haired male nodded absently. "Hmm...?"

"Is the binding supposed to...move?" Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, the binding stretched and whipped out to encircle my hips like a belt. I gasped in shock. I had barely finished the sharp inhale when the shock drained completely away along with every thought in my head leaving only a buzzing in my ears. My raised arms dropped limply to my sides. I barely even noticed the blue glare because my eyes were almost completely out of focus.

Madara turned to me and frowned. "Natsume?" With blinding speed, he dropped to one knee before me and grasped my shoulders. "Natsume, can you hear me?"

I heard him, but it took an amazing amount of effort just to focus on his face. Speaking took even more effort. It was like I was asleep, but standing. "Yes."

Madara's lips curled back from his fangs. "Impatient bastard...! Couldn't leave the kid alone for one night, could you?"

There was a pull from the binding around my hips. I staggered back a step then clumsily swung myself around to face the tunnel I’d entered. I took an unsteady step, then another. I didn't think to resist, because I couldn’t think at all, I could only follow where I was being pulled. My arm was grabbed. I stopped, still staring at the mouth of the tunnel. A tug turned me back around.

Madara looked down at me. His golden eyes were narrowed and his mouth tight. "Natsume, you're probably going to be pissed for this, but you need to be aware to fight." His raised his right hand and swung. His open palm made swift hard contact with my left cheek.

My head was knocked to the side hard enough to throw me to my knees on the floor of the cave. Suddenly I could think again, but all of that was knocked to the side by the pain exploding in my cheek. I grabbed my face with both hands and shouted. "Ow! Fuck! God, _damn_ it that hurts! Fucking, shit!"

Madara blinked then snorted. "And I thought _I_ had a potty mouth."

I glared up at him. "What the hell did you do _that_ for?"

Madara folded his arms and lifted one brow. "In case you've forgotten, you were about to walk out of this cave and very likely off the edge of that cliff because a certain dumb-assed sorcerer didn't think to check where you were before he activated that binding."

I blinked and memory crashed into me. I gasped sharply and felt the blood drain from my face. "The god-damned thing moved! It's around my waist." My heart pounding in my mouth, I lunged to my feet and yanked my coat open to get to my pants. I had to get that thing _off...!_

"Natsume, stop." Madara caught my hands and pulled them from my pants. "We can do the stripping thing later."

I stared up at him, well aware that my eyes were wide with panic. I tugged at my hands. "I gotta get it off!"

"We will." Madara grasped my shoulders and bodily turned me to face the little house. The blue light had faded to barely a glow. "But first, I need to get you safely behind closed doors." He pushed me toward the house.

Both panicked and furious by how easily the binding had taken over my body, I saw the house as the way to freedom. I went to take a step, but my legs didn't want to cooperate. I had to lean forward to pull my foot up off the ground and push hard to step forward, then lean forward again for the next step, and the next. Honest to god, it was like walking through deep sucking mud.

Madara snorted. "Either you're a hell of lot more stubborn than I gave you credit for, or that sorcerer's binding is crap."

I wanted to scowl over my shoulder, but simply taking one step after another was taking every ounce of effort I had. "Was that supposed to make sense?"

Madara stepped up beside me and grinned. "You shouldn't be able to voluntarily move in _any_ direction but that of your summons."

I growled past clenched teeth. "Well it certainly doesn't _feel_ like I'm moving."

Madara rolled his eyes. "It's stubbornness." He stepped in front of me. "How about I help you with that, hm?" In one smooth motion, he dropped to one knee, grabbed me around the waist, and tipped me over his shoulder. With one arm wrapped around my knees, he rose to his feet, turned, and strode for the glowing house.

Head-down and ass-up over Madara's shoulder, I got a face full of his white hair. I dug through the mass to grab a double-handful of his red-gold robes. It was a _long_ way down. I couldn't help but notice that instead of being coarse like a horse's mane, the strands of his hair were thick and smooth, like heavy silk thread. I wondered if he'd let me brush it for him. I wondered what it would feel like against my skin.

I stiffened in alarm. _What the hell am I thinking_? No matter what he currently looked like, this was still Nyanko-sensei. He was still the same chubby pain in the ass who stole food, yelled at me for talking to any spirit he didn't approve of, and picked fights with random spirits for no apparent reason. He also got blistering drunk and stank up my bedroom with _sake_ , hogged the covers at night, and made me fight the bulk of my battles despite the fact that he was supposed to be my bodyguard!

Worst of all, he was right. I _was_ only looking at the surface of things -- or rather, my lust was.

That train of thought brought forth a nice refreshing dose of annoyance that effectively cleared my head. It also made me realize just how embarrassing a position I was in. "Err, thanks for the help, but do you have to carry me like a bag of rice?" 

Madara snorted. "Would you rather I carried you like a bride?"

I winced and felt my face burn. "No, thanks. This is fine."

Only a few steps later, Madara stepped up onto the tiny porch and ducked to pass through the open door.

I was suddenly surrounded by blue -- a blue that crawled all over my skin and made every hair on my body rise. I watched the little wooden door slide shut all by itself. Then world flipped upside down.

~ * ~


	15. Chapter 15

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Fifteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue, blue, blue... Effervescent blue flowed around me and _into_ me. I was completely submerged in it -- drowning in it. It seared the sight from my eyes and vibrated the thoughts from my mind. The air I breathed smelled of ozone and blue. I could feel it moving in my lungs. My ears were filled with buzzing blue. It was so loud I could barely hear myself moan. Blue danced under my clothes and seeped under my skin to fizzle in my blood. It made my heart race and my temperature soar until I was sweating blue.

I sought to push the blue off, to claw the blue from my skin, but my hands were behind me and appeared to be...tied? That's when I became aware that I appeared to be lying face down on some kind of soft thick, cushiony surface. _A futon_? I struggled to open my eyes but they refused to cooperate.

Voices began to seep in through the blue.

"What's wrong with him?" The voice was cranky, feminine, and vaguely familiar. It was also somewhere in front of me.

A deep masculine voice I almost recognized spoke close to my ear. "I thought this might happen."

"What?" The female's voice sharpened in open frustration. " _What_ might happen?"

"He's drinking."

"Drinking...? But he can't! He's not--!"

"Look." The hands, _his_ hands tugged me upright.

My head fell back over a strong muscular arm. The rest of me flopped like a rag-doll to sprawl across a pair of crossed legs, my bare heels thumping on the wooden floor. The cooler air felt good on my chest and lower legs. Confusion raced through me. Why was I feeling air? I was supposed to be wearing a coat and pants, wasn't I?

Fabric was tugged across my legs, either a sheet, or a robe. I couldn't tell. A clawed finger slid down my bare belly making the muscles shiver and twitch. "You can see it soaking right into him, fading the marks."

The female spoke in a trembling whisper. "That's not...possible."

"Is it not?" The male snorted. "Think! In all the human lifetimes you've walked on this side, how many humans have you met that could see us the way he does, and Reiko could?"

 _Reiko_... I knew that name! I pushed past the blue swirling in my head to focus on that name. It was so familiar, so very familiar and important -- and precious. Memory came back in a flood that made my entire body tremble. Reiko was...my grandmother.

"Um..." The female hummed as though in thought. "Not many in the past couple hundred or so. A handful, maybe? There were far more back then." 

Suddenly I knew that feminine voice -- Hinoe, the pipe-smoking spirit that was in love with my grandmother. I knew that other voice too, Nyanko...? No, it was too deep for the cat. "Madara."

The body beneath me stiffened then relaxed and spoke softly. "I'm right here, Natsume." A cool hand swept through my hair. His voice strengthened. "Yes, there were many back then, back when we were seen as gods, and guardians, when we and they were far closer. Back then, there were often children who saw as he sees now, and drank to feed their nature."

Hinoe inhaled sharply. "Then he's...?"

Madara grunted. "Reiko certainly was. Clearly, she took a mate that shared her nature rather than her substance. Though one of her children, a daughter I'm guessing, did not take after her in that fashion -- at least on the surface, and mated--"

"What she could see." Hinoe snorted. "Well, that certainly explains an awful lot."

It was still hard to hear past the blue buzzing, but I definitely understood that they were talking about my grandmother and me, and possibly my mother -- Grandma Reiko's daughter. However, I couldn't quite make sense of what _else_ they were saying.

Hinoe sighed. "So, now...?"

Madara snorted. "Now, we keep him here until that stupid human sorcerer's binding breaks, and let him drink his fill."

 _Keep me here...?_ The binding wouldn't break until sunset _tomorrow_. I couldn't stay here a whole night and a day! I had to be home by nine-thirty tonight or the Fujiwaras would worry, plus I had school tomorrow! I closed my eyes tight and forced the blue from my thoughts enough to speak, but my voice didn't want to cooperate. "Home... Home by nine. Touko... Touko will worry."

Madara brushed his hand through my hair and snorted. "Relax, Hinoe and Mitsuzu will take our places until sunset tomorrow. Touko will never know the difference."

 _Mitsuzu_... I knew that name. It brought to mind a gigantic smoke gray horse spirit almost as large as Madara's true form. _Wait a minute, take our place_...? "What...?"

Heavy clopping thumps that sounded distinctly like hooves made the floor shake. A deeply powerful masculine voice that was definitely familiar called out. "Was that you tossing my name around, puppy?"

Madara growled. "Watch it rocking-horse."

The name-calling ritual brought forth several painfully familiar memories of Madara at odds with the giant horse. If I could have, I would have rolled my eyes.

Hinoe groaned. "Must you two fight _now_?"

Mitsuzu's clopping footsteps came extremely close and stilled. "Well now, isn't _that_ interesting?" His deep chuckle echoed. "I thought that's what I smelled." A woof of warm breath rushed across me. "Ugh! I know that reek...!"

Madara's deep growl vibrated in the chest up against my back. "That's the sorcerer that caught him."

" _That_ one, eh?" Mitsuzu gave an equine snort. "In that case, I agree. _This_ cannot be left as it is. I definitely do not want _that_ one getting his hands on the book."

Hinoe tittered. "Especially not with your name still in it, no?"

"Woman...!"

The _book_...? The _Book of Friends_! It was in the bag strapped to my hip, but I couldn't feel the bag there. I fumbled my unresponsive fingers to my hip, looking for it but I couldn't reach very far. My hands _were_ tied behind me, my wrists bound with something soft. I writhed to extend my reach, looking for the bag, but the belt to the bag wasn't there. A sash bound my hips instead. The bag wasn't on me. The book was gone! I gasped in deep breaths and struggled harder to wake my body from its stupor. A whimper of frustration escaped my lips.

Madara whispered against my ear. "It's safe, the book is safe. You'll get it back when we leave."

Panic forced my eyes open to stare up into a golden gaze in a brutally handsome pale face marked in scarlet. "Promise?" I couldn't speak above a whisper.

Madara rolled his eyes, but nodded.

I sighed in relief. "Ah... Good." My eyes tried to close. It took more effort than I cared to admit, but I kept them open to look around. The room was very plain, polished wood boards for four distant walls each with a window, and a plain board floor. It was much bigger than I expected it to be, considering how small the house had appeared on the outside. The cross-beamed ceiling was very far away. Sparkling blue mist that moved and breathed filled every nook and cranny.

A grinning blue-tinted Hinoe sat cross-legged not too far from where I was sprawled across Madara's lap. An unlit fire-pit sat between her and me--us. I barely recognized her. Instead of her usual pink, purple, and violet robes, she appeared to be in a blue hooded sweatshirt over a black turtleneck and jeans -- a very familiar hooded sweatshirt and jeans. A familiar brown coat and green scarf were tossed across her lap.

I frowned in confusion. _Are those...mine_?

A heavy thump that sounded an awful lot like a hoof stomp vibrated the floor to my left, just outside my view. " _You_ will take Natsume's place?"

Hinoe looked to my left, tilted her head, and tittered softly. "Well, he looks exactly like Reiko, and I know every inch of her delicious body."

Mitsuzu gave an amused snort. "You do realize that this is a boy, not a girl?"

"Of course!" Hinoe shrugged and plucked at the sweatshirt she wore. "But with his clothes on, who will tell?"

I blinked. They _were_ my clothes. Why was she wearing _my_ clothes? Wait a minute, if she was wearing my clothes, then what was _I_ wearing? I looked down and noticed that I was wearing a shimmering gold and cream robe of the thickest and softest silk I'd ever felt. Leafy bamboo branches were embroidered all over it in shades of green. "Sensei, what...?"

Madara chuckled. "Hinoe can assume your form, but not your clothes, so I'm afraid she must have them."

She winked at me. "That robe looks good on you."

Mitsuzu snorted. "Is it a _boy's_ robe?"

Hinoe curled her lip in open derision. "Of course not! Do you honestly think _I'd_ keep boy's clothes?" She sighed wistfully. "It was Reiko's, when she stayed with me."

Madara tilted his head to look past me and smiled. "In case you'd like to know, the woman of the house is an excellent cook and gives healthy portions."

Mitsuzu's took a heavy step closer. "Is that so?"

I turned toward the sound and noticed the pair of black horse's hooves peeking out from under midnight and silver robes only inches from my nose. I looked up and up at a tall male that was very nearly human in appearance

Thick waves of snowy white hair half concealed a smoky blue-black face that was strong and square-jawed with a hooked nose and vivid blue eyes. Tribal markings in bright blue marked his cheekbones and the center of his brow. Parting his thick hair was a pair of longish pointed ears with dangling  gold bells and a pair of curved horns. He smiled and winked. "Do you not recognize me, Master Natsume?" The deep powerful voice was utterly recognizable.

I blinked. "M-Mitsuzu?"

He nodded.

I'd never seen him like... _that_. He'd always looked vaguely like a horse -- with horns. His horns were the reason why the first time I met Mitsuzu I though he was a spirit bull. Unfortunately, I said so too.

The cat had exploded into hysterical laughter. "A cow...! He thinks you're a cow!"

Mitsuzu had promptly slammed a monstrous curving hoof that was not split down the center down on top of me nearly crushing me flat. "Does _this_ look like the hoof of a _bovine_ to you?"

I did not make that mistake again.

Hinoe abruptly rose to her feet. She shimmered and her familiar face shifted into _mine_. Her dark hair shortened and lightened until it matched mine exactly. The smile, however, was purely hers. "I suppose we should be going."

Mitsuzu stepped past me to move to her side. "Shall we give that sorcerer a lively chase?"

"Wait!" Madara raised a hand motioned Hinoe to come closer. "That sorcerer knows the taste of his power."

Hinoe stepped past the unlit fire-pit. "Oh, good idea!" She padded over to kneel directly in front of me and cupped my face. "Relax, this won't hurt a bit." Suddenly, her mouth was on mine.

Under the pressure of the lips that looked so much like mine, my mouth opened out of sheer astonishment.

It wasn't a kiss. After sealing our mouths together, she inhaled deeply and hard. 

The breath was sucked right out of my lungs. My head went light and I collapsed back into Madara's arms.

She rose to her feet, licking her lips. "Delicious!"

Madara bared his long teeth with a growl. "Don't get used to it." He curled an arm around me, pulling me against his chest.

"Far too late for that!" She winked. "He tastes just like Reiko." She turned on her heel and strode over to Mitsuzu's side. "Let's see how good this sorcerer really is, shall we?"

Mitsuzu grinned broadly showing even white teeth. "This ought to be entertaining." He leaned closed to Hinoe and whispered by her ear.

Her brows rose and then she cracked a smile that was pure evil. "I like it!"

Madara smiled down at me. "They'll lead the sorcerer far from here then go to your home and take our places as us until tomorrow's sunset."

Take my place -- _at the Fujiwara's_? I threw out a hand. "Don’t!" I had to draw in a breath to speak. "Don't scare the Fujiwara's! They're..." Gods, speaking took so much effort. "They're kind to me."

Hinoe smile softened. "I'll be very careful to be exactly like you." Her smile soured and she rolled her eyes. "Disgustingly polite."

Mitsuzu nodded. "We have no intention of alarming your caretakers." He snorted. "We don't want to see you driven away the way Reiko was."

I collapsed back against Madara. "Thank you."

The two of them waved. A puff of thick smoke curled around them. When the smoke cleared, they were gone.

I looked up at Madara through the haze of blue. "Natori will know it's not me."

Madara chuckled. "Eventually, he'll figure it out, but by then it will be far too late to do anything about it."

I gripped his sleeve. "He can hurt them."

Madara snorted. "Neither Hinoe nor Mitsuzu are as weak as the spirits he's used to dealing with; they are more than his match." He grinned showing his teeth. "And if his little slaves get too close, they will be _eaten_." 

I took a deep breath and found that it was easier to think past the blue. "Why...? Why are they doing this?"

Madara leaned close. "Do _not_ think they are doing this for you. They do this to protect the book. In your hands, the book harms no one. Well, no one but _you_." He poked my nose with a clawed finger. "In that sorcerer's hands...?" He curled his lip in an open snarl. "Life for those named in that book would get very ugly, very fast."

From the way that Natori treated me, and the cold way he spoke to his spirits, I could only agree. I pulled at my hands behind me. "Um, why am I tied?"

Madara snorted. "Because I don't want you hitting me."

I frowned. "Why would I...?" The leash around my hips gave a hard, determined pull and began to pulse. I sucked in a startled breath. In that moment, I knew that Natori had spotted Hinoe and Mitsuzu. However, that thought was quickly overridden by the sudden realization that the binding hadn't moved from my dick at all, it had extended at _both_ ends. The stupid thing hadn't just looped around my hips, some part of it was inside me pulsing against that hot little spot.

Madara looked down at me. "The binding, it's active?"

"Yes." The pulse sped up to a vibration. The thing was clearly _trying_ to get me hard, and it was succeeding with brutal efficiency. I gasped and writhed, pulling against the ties around my wrists and arms. "Let me go!"

"I have a better idea." Madara lifted me and turned me in his arms so that I was straddling his lap with his folded legs under me. "Why don't I distract you instead?"

I looked up at him in alarm. "What?"

His hand cupped back of my head and his mouth crashed down onto mine. 

Wide-eyed with shock I stared into his narrowed golden gaze. _He's kissing me_?

His broad palm pressed against my rump shoving me up against him belly to belly. In that moment I knew that neither he nor I were wearing any undergarments what so ever because my unclothed erection was shoved right up against his.

Surprise parted my lips on a yelp.

His tongue surged past my parted lips to take full possession of my mouth.

~ * ~


	16. Chapter 16

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Sixteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With his palm cupping the back of my head, Madara kissed me using lips, tongue, and teeth with an amazing amount of skill and care. He had upper and lower fangs beyond those supple lips, but the only damage they did was to my crumbling self control. His agile tongue curled around mine to taste me thoroughly, soft pleased groans coming from his throat. His other hand was firm against my butt, pressing me up against his belly, and his erection.

Trembling from the surge of pure heat spilling into my gut at an ungodly rate, I couldn't help but notice that he tasted of fresh water and moonlight, for lack of a better description. There was another taste under it too, one that was purely masculine and completely recognizable -- lust.

To say that I'd never even considered that Madara would have such...urges would have been a lie. More than a few spirits had openly flirted with him and he'd flirted right back. He'd even made the occasional off-color joke. However, I never thought he might see _me_ in that way. Sure, I’d noticed him staring at me with hunger in his eyes. Even in his cat form, he did it almost constantly. However, when he called me 'tasty', _this_   was _not_   what I thought he'd meant!

However, that didn't stop my eyes from closing all by themselves, or my body from going pliant in his arms. I found myself returning his kisses, stroking his tongue and nipping his lips with my flat teeth.

Madara released a pleased groan that sounded suspiciously like a purr.

I replied by moaning straight into his mouth and rocked forward in his lap, deliberately rubbing my cock against his. I slid against him with delicious ease. Too much ease, in fact. It felt as though his dick was coated in some kind of thick...oil.

Alarm spilled through me -- and embarrassment. He was _prepared_.

My eyes opened wide. I jerked my mouth from his and turned away. What the hell was I _doing_? First Natori, then Kaname, now Madara...? What kind of a...slut was I turning into that I would give in so easily to anyone that wanted me?

Madara's brow lifted and a smile curled his lip. "Is that regret I smell?"

My body was howling with urgency, my cock actually weeping for relief, but I was determined to keep myself under control -- for once. I shook my head. "I-I shouldn't be doing this."

Madara's clad hands slid down to my rump and he rolled his eyes. "Once again, your human morals rise to cloud your instincts." He smiled sourly. "Lucky for you, I'm willing to assist you." His fingers dug into my butt-cheeks to lift me up against his chest.

I fell forward against his shoulder, my knees splayed wide to frame his hips. I gasped in wide-eyed alarm. "Madara?" I tugged at my arms, but my wrists were too firmly tied. "What are you doing?"

He looped one arm tight around my hips while his free hand reached down under my ass. "What am I doing?" His golden eyes narrowed and his smiled showed long teeth. "Making pancakes." He lowered me, letting me slide down his chest. The hot broad head of his cock nosed into the crack of my ass then centered on my anus.

A small whimper of fear -- and hunger, escaped my throat. He wasn't _really_ going to do... _this_ , was he?

His lips brushed my temple and his deep powerful voice growled softly against my ear. "If you want it, take it. If you don't...?

 _His voice..._ A shiver spilled down my back and my entire body trembled.

"...All you have to do is lean away and I'll let you fall back on the pillows." His arms loosened around me. "The choice is yours."

I automatically stiffened my legs, bracing my splayed feet on the futon to keep from being impaled on his cock. But... But I just couldn't make myself lean back. I _couldn't_ push myself away. Despair spilled through me. "Why, damn it?"

Madara stilled utterly. "Why...what, Natsume?"

Like a dash of cold water to my face, I realized I'd spoken out loud. I ducked my head to hide my eyes behind my hair.

Madara's free hand cupped under my chin, lifting my face to meet his golden gaze. There was no smile on his lips. "Tell me."

Bitterly embarrassed, I could only speak in a whisper. "Why does my body...want _this_?"

"Ah..." A slight smile lifted his lips. "You're hungry." He snorted. "In fact, you're damned near starving."

I shook my head, confused. "Hungry? For... _this_?"

He loosed a soft sigh and pulled me against his broad chest, easing the strain on my feet and legs. His nose burrowed in my hair by my ear. "Your human body eats food, but your...spirit is more like ours. It needs what we need, and the only way for your human body to get it, is--"

"Sex?" I stared at him, incredulous. He had to joking!

He pulled back and smiled. "By consuming the spirit of others."

Cold horror spilled through me. "I have to _eat_ other spirits?"

His brows lifted. "Well, you _could_...?"

I shook my head hard. "No! Absolutely not...!"

He rolled his eyes. "There goes your soft heart again."

"No!" I bared my teeth and struggled to get back off his lap. "I _won't_ do that...!"

Madara tightened his arms around me and chuckled. "Don't be so hasty, Natsume! You only need a small portion, and that is freely given during sex."

I stilled in his arms and blinked at him. "Freely given...?"

Madara nodded. "When you make your partner reach climax, their spirit opens and they release a portion of their soul to you." His gaze narrowed and his smiled twisted into a snarl. "That is what that bastard sorcerer is doing to you. He's eating part of your spirit every time you climax."

I shook my head. "But, why do _I_ want it?"

Madara's snarl shifted into a wry smile. "Because when he climax's, he releases a portion of his spirit too, and your body instinctively recognizes that it's food. However..." His lips curled to show a fang. "You are not getting nearly enough to make up for what he takes."

I winced. "Is that why I can't resist him?" _Or anyone else for that matter?_

Madara snorted. "Exactly. He only feeds you enough to sharpen your hunger, never enough to satisfy it. He's deliberately starving you to keep you obedient. He's knows good and well that once you eat your fill, his lure will no longer work." 

I looked up from under my long bangs. "Does that mean I'll stop...wanting it from other people too?" Would I stop wanting Kaname? Somehow, that thought didn't make me feel all that comfortable.

Madara blinked. "To some degree." Abruptly his eyes widened. "Oh, you mean the blind priest's kid?" He shook his head and smiled sourly. "You have one of those human connections...an emotional attachment I think they're called. He's not merely food to you."

My mouth spoke before I could think to stop it. "Am I just food to you?"

Madara blinked then grinned. "Not at all! You're a great source of entertainment too." His smile soured and he rolled his eyes. "When you're not trying to kill yourself helping every little spirit that comes your way."

The pain that stabbed through my chest was fierce and biting cold. I looked away. "I-I see."

Madara winced then sighed heavily. "Look, Natsume..." His gaze slid away and his voice dropped to barely a whisper. "I don't stick my neck out for just anyone." Pink colored his pale cheeks and his chin lifted. "And that is _all_ I'll say on this matter."

My eyes widened. Was he implying that he _did_ have some sort of attachment to me? I couldn't be sure, but the chill in my chest faded to be replaced by incredible warmth.

He smiled. "Ready to make your choice?" His arm around me relaxed.

I slipped lower in his hold. The pressure on my anus increased to a sharp ache. A soft whimper escaped me. I stiffened my legs to hold myself up.

His lips brushed my ear. "Are you sure you don't want a taste of me? I assure you, I'll enjoy filling you -- body and soul." One broad palm on the back of my rump slid up my spine, his long nails scoring me lightly.

Under a rush of upward shivers, a deep hungry throbbing began right behind my balls.

Despite the fact that there were long nails on his fingers and fangs in his mouth-- Despite the fact that there was no mistaking him for anything other than a non-human predator-- Despite the fact that this was _Nyanko_ , for crying out loud...! Despite every objection I could think of; the urge to submit, to surrender, to give in, and _take_ the pleasure offered was--

\--Irresistible.

My body _wanted_ this. _I_ wanted this. I wanted _him_. I sucked in a breath and threw back my head with my eyes closed tight. I pushed to open myself. Sadly, it didn't take much effort. My body was that damned eager.

His oiled cock-head breeched me all too easily and entered, spreading me almost uncomfortably wide. He groaned and grabbed my ass with both hands, easing me downward with exquisite care. Slowly his shaft slid up into me, impaling me, filling me.

My thighs came to rest on his with his cock fully sheathed in my ass deeper than Natori had ever gone. I hissed and writhed, not because it hurt, but because it felt _wonderful_.

His palms on my ass pushed me upward, lifting me against his chest. His voice rumbled softly in my ear. "Take what you need, Natsume. Take your fill." His hands shoved me downward and onto him.

Pleasure detonated within me. It exploded deep within my belly then blazed up my spine to burn in the back of my skull. To hold back my scream, I kissed him like a starving man, sucking hard on his tongue and damned near biting him in the process.

Moaning, he fell back onto the futon, taking me with him.

Sitting atop him, the change in angle rubbed so perfectly against that hungry place deep within, a howl escaped my throat. I writhed and ground downward for more.

Beneath me, Madara grabbed onto my hips and arched up to meet me with his mouth open and his eyes closed as though suffering breathtaking torment.

Somehow, the tie around my arms came free. I immediately grabbed onto his shoulders. Using my knees, my feet, and my thighs, I rode him as fast and hard as I could.

Beneath me, Madara shuddered and bucked, moaning in that deep velvet rumble.

Hot wetness and blue light flooded into me bringing a warmth and satisfaction that was almost better than orgasm. I screamed. It was wonderful, but not enough -- not nearly enough.

Despite the fact that he had obviously reached climax, Madara's erection didn't fade. Instead, he rolled me over onto my back, sat up, and pulled one leg up and onto his shoulder. It turned me on my side. With one hand firm on each thigh, he began pounding into me.

All coherent thought dissolved under the fierce pleasure of his cock slamming into me.

I don't know how much time passed, but it seemed that in only moments Madara was arching back and moaning. His cock pulsed within me and more hot wetness with more of that electrical blue jetted inside me.

I moaned with satisfaction and shuddered, the tight coil of pleasure deep in my belly poised to explode into release.

His hand wrapped tight around the base of my cock. "Not yet."

My release retreated back into my balls leaving behind a throbbing ache. I gasped in shock.

Panting for breath, he fell atop me, his cock still buried deep. "Let me give you a little more." His mouth took mine in a fierce kiss.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my fingers in his thick white hair and replied with enthusiasm.

He pulled his lips from mine, grabbed my shoulder, and withdrew his cock. It was still hard.

Moaning in disappointment, I reached for him.

Chuckling, he flipped me over onto my belly. With his hand firm on my shoulder, he urged my ass upward then nudged my knees wide. He leaned over my back.

I barely had time to brace myself on my forearms.

He entered me in one long hard lunge.

I gasped and writhed.

As before, he took me, came, then stopped my release. "Not yet, not yet..." Then he did it again, and again until time lost meaning.

Eventually I ended up on my back, a sweating frustrated mess hardly able to move and barely coherent. "Please..." My voice was so hoarse from screaming that I couldn't speak above a whisper. "Please let me cum...?"

Madara smiled, his bone-white skin gleaming with sweat. "I love it when you beg." His voice was almost as hoarse as mine. He gripped my hips, ducked his head, and took my cock into his mouth, swallowing it whole.

My release was almost instantaneous. There wasn't time to scream, merely gasp. The pleasure was so ferocious; it exploded in the back of my head.

######  ~ * ~

I awoke from the deepest dreamless sleep I ever remembered having to find myself curled up against Madara's warm side. A thick kimono that shifted between shades of red, violet, and twilight blue was spread over the both of us like a blanket. I raised my head.

With his arms folded under his head and his eyes closed, Madara appeared to be asleep. He took a deep breath then opened his scarlet lined, golden eyes. He smiled just a little. "How do you feel?"

I frowned in thought. How _did_ I feel? Truthfully, I felt as though something inside me that had always been in turmoil was finally at rest, but how did one describe that? "Calm." It was the only thing that came to mind.

He nodded and closed his eyes. "Good." He raised a hand to pat my head. "Go back to sleep."

I didn't think I could, but somehow I did.

~ * ~


	17. Chapter 17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Seventeen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke to find Madara sitting upright. I was curled on my side with my head pillowed on his thigh and the blue-violet kimono tucked snugly around me. I was still rolling in electrical blue, inside and out, but it wasn't nearly as distracting as it was before. I had no difficulty making out the conversation happening only a meter or so away.

A smoky feminine voice spoke with open amusement. "As if any mortal-built vehicle could keep up with us?"

A powerful masculine voice chuckled. "As if we would bother to follow human roads?"

I lifted my head to see pale elegant Hinoe sitting only a meter or so away dressed in her familiar flowered robes. At her side, Mitsuzu knelt in his midnight blue and frost white robes. I frowned at them. "You're back already?"

"Already?" Hinoe waved her long-stemmed pipe toward me. "Didn't you want to go home once the binding broke?"

My frown deepened. "Yes." I shook my head. "Wait, you're saying I've been here a whole night and day? It's Wednesday?"

Madara pulled a long-stemmed pipe from his sleeve. "As you humans say, time flies when having fun." He brought the stem of the pipe back to his lips and puffed out a curl of blue-gray smoke.

I blinked. He _hadn't_ bothered to light the pipe.

Mitsuzu snorted. "It's Wednesday night, Master Natsume. The sun set roughly an hour ago."

I could only blink in astonishment. I spent a whole night and day having sex? I’d also slept of course, but still... I shook my head. _Never mind that_! While I’d been...here, Hinoe and Mitsuzu had been dodging Natori in my place. I looked from one to the other. "Natori... He didn't...hurt you?"

Hinoe smiled sourly. "Not at all." She puffed on her long-stemmed pipe and blew out a stream of smoke. "He couldn't even keep up with us."

"That sorcerer was not particularly bright." Mitsuzu waved a dark hand in dismissal. "It took him until this morning to catch on that we were decoys."

"Oh, good." I pushed to sit upright -- and my entire body protested. Everything ached, not just my...lower regions. My shoulders and elbows ached too. I folded my legs under me and my _knees_ hurt as well. I winced. "The Fujiwara's...? Did they...?"

Mitsuzu shook his head, the gold bells on his ears jingling. His smile softened. "They never realized." He winked. "And the woman is a _very_ good cook."

I blew out a sigh of relief. "Good, good..." Hopefully, I wouldn't have too much trouble to deal with when I got home.

"Speaking of which..." Mitsuzu leaned close and handed me a full plastic bag. "I thought you might be interested in...this."

I took the bag and opened it. It was crammed with plastic wrapped rice balls and meat pastries baked in the shape of fish. There was even a plastic bottle of tea. My mouth watered. It looked utterly _delicious_. I was suddenly reminded that I had missed dinner the night before, plus breakfast, lunch and possibly diner today too. My stomach took that moment to growl -- loudly.

All three spirits had a laugh at my expense.

I was too busy opening packages and devouring food to truly care.

Hinoe smirked with narrowed eyes, her lips curled back to show a hint of fangs. "So, did _you_ enjoy yourself, young Natsume?"

I paused in mid-bite, then stuffed my mouth full and pretended I hadn't heard her.

Mitsuzu's smile was broad but his eyes narrowed. "You certainly _look_ healthier." His gaze dropped.

I glanced down and discovered that I was completely nude except for the robe covering my lap. _Shit!_ I hastily swallowed what was in my mouth and stuffed what was in my hand back into the bag. I then whirled around, turning to turn my back on them. Embarrassed and annoyed at my blunder, I tugged up the robe, shoved my arms into the sleeves, and yanked it closed perhaps a bit more violently than I should have. Thankfully, nothing ripped.

The small house echoed with loud laughter.

Madara casually held out a narrow red sash.

I snatched the sash from his hand then knotted it around my waist. Scowling, I turned back around and reached for the food bag.

Hinoe tilted her head and frowned. "Wait a moment, Natsume are you...taller?"

I paused in mid-grab.

Madara rose to his feet and held out his hand. "Stand up, Natsume."

"Err, okay." To my embarrassment, my knees hurt so much that I actually had to grip Madara's arm to rise to my feet. "Ow..." I looked up and discovered that my head came to his shoulder. I distinctly remembered only reaching his heart. I _was_ taller.

Hinoe straightened and her eyes widened. "Oh...my."

Mitsuzu's white brows lifted over his blue eyes. "Well now, this is quite a...development."

Madara smiled rather smugly. "To borrow from the humans, I told you so."

I stared up at Madara. "Err, what's going on...?"

Madara shrugged. "You've eaten properly, so you've...filled out a bit."

"A bit...?" Hinoe snorted. "The clothes I brought aren't even going to fit him!"

I stared at her. "What...?"

Hinoe tisked, rose to her feet, walked over, and handed me a bundle. Her eyes were level with mine. "See for yourself."

I unfolded a familiar pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that looked as though they'd shrunk three whole sizes.

Mitsuzu grinned broadly. "It looks as though you're going home in that robe Natsume."

~ * ~

I did go home in the robe, and though I buried as much of me as I could in Madara's fur, it was a rather chilly ride through the darkness. I slipped into my bedroom window and headed straight for the shower to warm up -- and clean off.

It was then that I actually saw that the binding around my dick was gone. Natori's power over me had broken. I heaved a deep sigh of relief. "It's gone, thank God..."

Just outside my shower, Nyanko's creaky old-man's voice piped up. "You're welcome!"

I tossed a wet face-cloth in his general direction.

"Hey...! Ungrateful brat..."

After my shower, I unfolded the largest pair of pajamas I had. The bottoms were just roomy enough to get them on, but the hems were well above my ankles. I couldn't button the shirt closed at all and the sleeves were up around my forearms.

Frustrated and achy in more places than I cared to think about, I went back to my room, climbed into my futon and pulled up the covers. I threw my arm over my eyes and groaned. How the hell was I going to explain _this_ to the Fujiwara's in the morning?

~ * ~

A rapping at my door woke me from a very deep sleep. The rapping was accompanied by a sweet and clearly concerned feminine voice. "Takashi? Takashi, are you awake?"

I groaned and sat up. "Yes, yes...! I'm up! I'm up!" I stretched out my arms and yawned. I looked over at my calendar just to be sure that I had my dates right. Yep, it really was Thursday.

The door slid open. "I hope you're feeling...better?"

Caught in the middle of my stretch, I blinked blearily at Touko. "Hm...?"

She blinked at me then stared wide-eyed. "Oh my..."

That's when I realized that she was staring at my bare chest because I was wearing pajamas that were clearly far too small for me. My face blazing with heat, I yanked up the covers up to my neck. "Err..."

Touko whirled on her heel and practically bolted down the hall. "Shigure! Shigure, I was right! Come see!" She sounded positively giddy.

I blinked after her completely lost. _What the...?_

Shigure's heavy footsteps hastened up the stairs. Moments later, Touko returned with Shigure at her side. "See, I was right!"

Shigure ducked his head into my door. "Oh..." He adjusted his narrow-framed glasses and blinked at me, then smiled at his wife. "Why so you were."

Touko clasped her hands, and grinned at me. "I just knew _that's_ what was going on!"

Shigure looped an arm around his wife's waist and smiled down at her. "I told you all he needed was your cooking."

Touko leaned against her husband and positively glowed. "Why yes you did."

I stared at the both of them, completely confused. "I'm...sorry?" It was all I could think to say.

Touko blinked at me. "For what dear?"

"For um..." I looked away then simply stood up so they could see the full extent of the damage. I looked at the floor. "I seem to have...grown, overnight."

Shigure chuckled and shook his head. "You've been having aches and pains all week, so we figured it was this."

I tilted my head to the side, still completely confused. "This...?"

Touko nodded briskly. "Your growth spurt."

My mouth fell open. "Growth spurt...?"

Touko nodded. "The doctor told us when we first got you, that since you'd been--" She looked away briefly. "--Undernourished, you might suddenly--" She lifted her hands. "Shoot up, seemingly overnight." She smiled.

Shigure frowned. "He's definitely taller but..."

Touko pouted at her husband. "But...?"

Shigure scratched at his chin. "He still looks a bit on the...scrawny side. I think you better feed him up some more."

"Absolutely!" Touko nodded firmly and pushed her sleeves up her arms. "I'll make us all a full breakfast right away!" She turned and marched down the hall with determination in her stride.

My eyes widened and I stepped toward the door. "Oh but, you don't need to go that far...!"

Shigure set his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "Yes she does." He leaned close to my ear and whispered. "She's very proud that her cooking has done you such obvious good. Don't ruin her victory."

I sighed and smiled. "Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Good now, err..." He looked me eye to eye, then down at my extremely small pajamas. "Let me see if I can find you something to wear." He smiled and winked. "I doubt anything you have will fit you anymore." He turned on his heel and headed down the hall with an obvious spring to his step.

I stared after him, astounded that my strange growth was so easily accepted by the Fujiwaras.

Minutes later, Shigure came back with a pair of dungarees, a few plain white t-shirts, and a thick flannel shirt in green and brown plaid that he swore were all too small for him. He'd tucked in a pair of socks and boxers among the clothes, but I didn't find those until after he'd gone downstairs.

I took the clothes from his hands. "About school...?"

Shigure shook his head. "Not today." He turned to walk down the hall. "I can pretty much guarantee that Touko intends to take you clothes shopping." He lifted his hand in a wave. "Prepare yourself!"

I sighed. There was no preparation for Mrs. Touko Fujiwara on a shopping spree. It was something one could only endure.

After dressing, I went downstairs to have a humongous breakfast with the Fujiwara's, and ate every bite.

Shigure's prediction proved true. Touko insisted on tucking me into one of Shigure's old coats and took me clothes shopping.

With Nyanko balanced on my right shoulder, I followed Touko at a brisk walk into the heart of the small town. I was then hauled in and out of every shop there was for pants, shirts, sweats, new black school uniforms, shoes, flannel pajamas, socks, and underwear. Embarrassing as it was, Mrs. Fujiwara was clearly enjoying herself, so I merely smiled and pulled the over-burdened wire shopping cart.

Nyanko normally had a comment for nearly everything, but on that shopping trip, he was conspicuously silent. In fact, from the sly glances left, right, forward and behind, it was clear that he was actually acting the part of my bodyguard and watching out for me -- for once.

With both our arms full and the wire cart packed high, we went home for lunch. Surprisingly, I actually felt better. Many of the aches and pains that had plagued me that morning disappeared from the bending and stretching, and carrying.

After lunch, I was dragged back out to visit the local clinic for a doctor's appointment that Mrs. Fujiwara had apparently scheduled the day before. The doctor confirmed the Fujiwara's assessment of a long delayed growth spurt and I was sent home with a note for my teacher excusing my absences.

When we got home, Touko and I dove into the task of cleaning out all my old clothes to make room for my new clothes. I didn't have much so it only took about an hour.

Touko frowned at the single bag and lonely box of my old clothes. "My, my... If I had known you'd had so little, I would have taken you shopping sooner!"

I waved and smiled. "It's better this way. I'm glad that you didn't waste your money on clothes I would have outgrown."

Touko reached out to cup my cheeks and smiled. "Providing for a child is _never_ a waste."

I stared into her warm gaze and felt a part of my heart crack. I wanted to say something, but her sentiment had literally stolen the words from my tongue.

Touko let me go and rose to her feet. "Since your clothes are still in good condition, I'm going to call the local children's shelter and have them come get them." Touko smiled at me and patted my shoulder. "And then I'll begin dinner!"

I stared at her in open astonishment. "Where does all your energy come from?"

She blinked then smiled warmly. "From love of course." She leaned close to kiss my brow then smiled and winked. "I believe you have some homework to do?"

I grimaced and nodded. "Yes, ma'am." I went back up to my room and dragged my folding table to the center of the room. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting cross-legged on my thickest cushion surrounded by open books and notebooks.

And that was pretty much that.

After homework came dinner with Shigure and Touko, then bath and bedtime -- a nice, normal evening. I set my alarm clock to wake up for school and smiled. I was kind of looking forward to seeing what my classmates thought of my new height.

I was also looking forward to seeing Natori now that the playing field had evened out. I had warned him that I wouldn't be kept on a leash. Hopefully, he'd learned his lesson.

~ * ~


	18. Chapter 18

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Eighteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday morning began as it usually did, with a swat to the alarm. However, while I brushed my teeth, the bathroom seemed just a bit more cramped than usual. It was then that I noticed that my light brown hair was brushing my shoulders. It had grown too.

Dressing turned out fine since I actually had clothes that fit, but going down the stairs on my way to breakfast proved...troublesome. The stairs seemed almost too small for my feet. I missed the third step entirely, overbalanced and tipped forward.

Staring hard at the long row of hard wooden stairs and the harder wooden floor a long way down, I gasped sharply in shock. Desperately I reached out and somehow actually caught the handrail. I landed hard two steps further dawn, barking my shins in the process, but at least I didn't fall down the entire flight of stairs.

Touko and Shigure rushed from the kitchen into the hall. "Takashi...!"

I climbed back onto my feet with a smile and a wave. "Ah! I'm fine. I just tripped."

Touko's hand covered her mouth, her eyes wide. It was obvious that she was on the edge of panic.

Shigure winced then smiled. "Your feet too big for the stairs now?" It was clearly an attempt to make the situation into a joke to reassure Touko.

I brightened my smile and chuckled. I didn't want Touko panicked either. "That's what it looks like." I continued down the stairs with my hand firmly on the rail. I couldn't trust that my feet would actually land on the stairs properly.

When I reached the bottom, Shigure clapped his arm over my shoulder. His gaze was almost even with mine. I was only a few centimeters shorter. He looked up at the top of my head meaningfully then grinned. "Ah, it won't be long now before you'll be ducking to go through doorways!"

I eyed the top of the doorway. It was far closer than I remembered it being and reflexively ducked. "Gods, I hope not!" I sat down at the breakfast table with care. The whole kitchen seemed smaller than before, and the furniture more fragile.

Over breakfast, Shigure and I joked about having to make the doors and ceilings higher for me.

Eventually, Touko smiled and joined in with a comment on finally having someone in the house tall enough to change all the ceiling light-bulbs. At least, I was pretty sure she was joking. I was only a few centimeters shorter than Shigure, but a whole head taller than Touko.

I left the house book bag and napkin-wrapped lunchbox in hand with a sense of relief. Inside the house, everything looked so small and delicate. Outside, the sky, the fields, the mountains, the high stone walls around the individual houses, everything assumed its seemingly proper over-large proportions; even my clothes. The brand-new smoke gray overcoat I wore was more than a bit large on me. It flapped at my ankles. The black and white hounds tooth patterned muffler was also longer than I was used to wearing. Apparently, Touko expected me to get even taller -- a frightening prospect.

The morning walk to school was peaceful and quiet. My arrival however...

Half-way across the stone bridge that spanned the dike surrounding the small school, energetic Nishimura dashed right into my path. "Whoa...! Natsume, is that you?" He squinted up at me. "Uwah! So big...!"

I ducked my head. "Morning." Unfortunately, since I was almost a whole head taller it didn't hide my pained expression at all.

Laid-back Kitamoto casually strolled over to my side with his chin up. "Ah... I'm still taller."

I lifted my head and frowned at him. I wasn't so sure he was right, but if he _was_ , it was... "Only by a centimeter or so."

Kitamoto flashed a brief smile. "Taller is still taller."

Nishimura grinned. "Better luck on your next growth spurt!" Laughing, he smacked me across the back and bolted.

"Hey...!" I swung out an arm to grab him, but missed.

Smiling, Kitamoto patted my shoulder then trotted after his friend. "Oi! Nishimura...!"

I stared after them, stunned. That was _it_? My sudden growth was that easy to accept? All the way up the school drive, through the foyer and into the shoe-locker area I gathered quite a few stares and more than a few whispers, but that was all.

I put my coat away, changed into my indoor shoes, then collected my class texts still puzzling over the _non_ -reactions I'd gotten. It was obvious that everyone had noticed that I was taller, but apparently, I wasn't quite tall enough to trigger a serious reaction. It was almost...disappointing.

"Oi." The voice was low, familiar, and directly behind me.

"Eh!" Startled, I slammed my locker closed and whirled, smashing my back against my locker -- to stare straight into Kaname Tanuma's ink-black eyes. My heart wrenched in my chest. In my experience, few people handled encounters with the spirits well. Most people preferred to forget they ever happened, to the point of avoiding anything and everything that reminded them of their experience -- which usually included me.

After nearly being strangled by one on the temple stairs, I fully expected that Kaname would never want to see or speak to me again.

Kaname blinked at me then frowned. "Tall..." 

I blinked right back? _Eh..._? Kaname was _speaking_ to me? I frowned in suspicion. Had he taken a hit to the head I hadn't seen and had his memory loosened? I didn't see any bandages...

Kaname leaned in close and whispered. "Is it really you this time, Takashi?"

"What?" I blinked in confusion then shook my head. "Wait, what do you mean by, ' _this time'_?"

Kaname snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "Let's just say that the day before yesterday, it _wasn't_ you."

I frowned. _The day before yesterday_...? Comprehension dawned. The day before yesterday Hinoe had worn my form while I was... err, with Madara. Apparently, Kaname had noticed the difference. I winced and scratched the back of my head. "Ah yes, it's me. About that..."

Kaname abruptly lunged in close. His hands landed on the lockers to either side of my shoulders. He whispered. "Did you break it?"

Tanuma's handsome face was so close to mine I could practically taste his breath. Completely unable to form a coherent thought, I mindlessly repeated what I'd heard without realizing what I was saying. "Break...it?"

Kaname curled his lip. "The binding, idiot! Did you break it?"

Awareness crashed into me. Oh, _that!_ I nodded sharply; more to snap myself awake than anything else. "Yes! Yes, it's broken, as of last night."

Kaname dropped his head onto my shoulder and sagged into me. "Thank the gods..."

Having his weight pressing against me felt good. In fact, just a little _too_ good, but this time I had firm control over my...urges. I also had a hefty dose of guilt weighing on my mind. I reached up and pushed lightly at his shoulder. "Ah, about back then, on the temple stairs...?

"Oh yeah..." Kaname's head lifted. His black eyes narrowed and his lip curled into a snarl. "Go home?"

I winced and raised my hands in surrender. "Err... I apologize?"

Kaname grabbed the front of my uniform with both fists and pulled me from the lockers. "I will accept your apology under two conditions."

I pulled back half-heartedly, more on principal. I didn't actually want to escape his hold. "Okay?"

Kaname tightened his grip on my jacket. "One: _never_ tell me to 'go home' like I'm some helpless brat again, and two; you _will_ meet me in the empty room at lunch and tell me everything that happened after that."

I stiffened. _Everything...?_ I swallowed hard. No way in hell was I going to tell him what I'd been doing for a whole day and night! Doing my utmost to avoid flinching under his stare, I lifted one shoulder very casually and gave him my best counter-offer. "Well, I don't quite remember everything--" Actually, the truth. "--But I'll tell you what I can?"

Kaname's eyes narrowed and a low growl echoed in his chest. "And the first...?"

I held his stare. Silence descended between us. The homeroom bell pealed, sounding ungodly loud in my ears.

Kaname's jaw tightened--so did his fists in my black uniform jacket. Clearly, Kaname was not going to give on this one.

 _Crap..._ "Fine." I looked away. "I-I won't tell you to go home again." I'd just have to avoid letting him know when things got dangerous. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.

Kaname closed his eyes and sighed. Abruptly, he opened his eyes and smiled. "Good enough." He turned and strode up the hall with a wave. "See you at lunch!"

"Eh...?" I stared after him in shock.

Nishimura came from around the lockers with Kitamoto at his heels. "Natsume! What are you doing here? Homeroom just rang! Let's go! Let's go...!" I was grabbed by the arms and dragged at a trot to my homeroom class.

When I walked into the long window-lined classroom, I barely noticed the stares that acknowledged my change in height. My mind and heart were far too occupied. Despite what had happened, and that I was the cause of it, Kaname was still speaking to me. I hadn't lost my friend!

Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with my thoughts I almost slammed face-first into my homeroom teacher. I blinked at the slightly portly middle-aged man eye to eye. Although he was broader in the shoulders and the middle, he was the same height I was when only days ago he'd been a whole head taller.

For a moment, I honestly thought he'd shrunk.

The teacher folded his arms across his chest and his brow lifted behind his glasses. "Welcome back, young Natsume." He tapped his whip-slender pointer against his shoulder.

I hurriedly fished the doctor's note from my book bag and shoved the note at him with a hasty bow. "My apologies, _sensei_."

He took the note, read it and both brows lifted. "Growth spurt, eh?" He eyed me up and down. "I’d say that was an understatement."

Badly muffled giggles and snickers came from my classmates.

My face burning with embarrassment, I could only duck my head to hide behind my overlong hair. "Yes, sir."

The teacher sighed heavily then tilted his head toward the class. "Try not to give yourself a concussion on the doorway lintels, please."

The whole class laughed out loud.

"Yes sir." I fled to my seat by the window.

~ * ~

My classes progressed one after the other and I was pleased to find that I wasn't as far behind in my class work or studies as I'd thought. As for the tests that I'd supposedly taken the day before yesterday...?

My Japanese history teacher slapped a paper down on my desk. A big red 0 stared up at me. "Tomorrow, be here to retake this. Understood?"

I could only hunch down in my seat and nod.

By the time the time lunch arrived, I had three tests to take over on Saturday. I spread the tests out on my desk and stared at the dismal scores with a heavy sigh. The best that could be said for Hinoe's answers was that they'd been... _creative_. On the other hand, a fourth test proved that she was apparently far better at math than I was.

I dropped my head to my desk and moaned. So much for using Saturday to catch up on all the sleep I'd missed the past week. Simply going to bed early was out too. I had a pile of cramming to do before I could even _think_ about sleep.

Before I realized it, Nishimura was leaning over my shoulder blinking wide-eyed at my scores. He whispered in an awed voice, "Wow Natsume, you _really_ sucked."

With a scowl, I shoved his head away and crammed my tests into my briefcase. That's when the lunch bell rang. I pulled out my cloth-wrapped lunchbox and fled the room.

Two steps beyond the doorway, the back of my collar was grabbed by a firm hand. "Oi."

Alarm blazed through me. I whirled, fist raised.

Kaname blinked at me and released my collar. There was a cloth-wrapped lunchbox in his other hand.

I lowered my fist with a scowl. "Don't startle me like that!"

With a sly smile, he swatted the back of my head. "Idiot." The swat actually stung. He stepped past me. "Let's go."

I followed after him down the crowded hallway rubbing the back of my head. "What the hell was that for?"

Kaname glanced over his shoulder at me. "Somebody's grumpy today."

I scowled. "You would be too if you had to redo three tests this coming Saturday."

Kaname's brows rose then he looked ahead, watching me from the corner of his eyes. "So, your substitute was that bad, eh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hinoe's good in math, but she sucks in Japanese Lit, history, and social studies."

Kaname frowned. "She...?"

I nodded. "She's a shape-shifter, but she hates men, so I'm not sure why she did it for me."

Kaname blinked. "That was a _spirit_?"

I stiffened. I hadn't meant to just spit it out like that. _Too late now_. I sighed. "Yeah. She took my place to keep Natori off my tail."

He suddenly grinned. "She wouldn't happen to be, you know...lesbian, would she?"

I blinked at him. He wasn't shocked, or even bothered by it? _Never mind that, pay attention!_ "Lesbian? Yeah, big-time."

Kaname sighed. "Well, that explains why she was hanging all over that second-year girl." He grinned. "That girl probably thinks you want to go out with her now." 

I rolled my eyes. "Great..." Wondering how in hell I was going to fix that mess in the making, I followed Kaname into the dead-end hallway and then stepped into the deserted classroom. I set my lunch down on the teachers' desk.

Behind me, Kaname slid the door closed behind us and turned the door lock -- loudly.

I turned, frowning. "Kaname...?"

Kaname grabbed me by the shoulder and the back of the head, then slammed his open mouth onto mine, kissing me hard enough to shove me back against the desk. His knee jammed itself between my legs then his thigh pressed up against my crotch and rubbed, hard.

Tipped backwards, I grabbed onto Kaname's upper arms to keep from falling over. I couldn't have protested if I'd wanted to; his tongue was in my mouth. I couldn't have strung two words together anyway. His taste, and his thigh against my crotch, literally emptied my head -- to fill my dick.

Truthfully, being with Madara for a whole night and day was more than enough to keep my...urges under control. However, since it was what Kaname obviously wanted I decided to go along with it. Personally, I was just plain happy that he still wanted to associate with me. I hadn't lost him due to the dangerous nature of the spirits around me, the way I'd lost every other person -- _human_ person-- in my life.

Kaname released one of my shoulders to jerk the buttons on my jacket open then started on the buckle and button to my pants. Only moments later, yanked my pants down to my knees. He released my mouth with a tight-jawed, narrow-eyed look on his face to shove my shoulder hard.

My back landed against the desktop none too gently. I winced, but otherwise didn't complain.

Kaname then grabbed both of my legs to drag my ass all the way to the very edge of the desk. He swooped down to suck my dick into his hot, wet, and skillful mouth. I don't know how he did it, but he also yanked off my shoes, my pants, and my jockey's from my legs all while sucking my dick like he was starving. Then he started tugging on my nipples.

In only seconds, I was writhing, gasping, and violently hard.

He pushed my right leg up, my knee pressing against my stomach then shoved it up onto his shoulder. Two slick fingers suddenly pressed hard against my anus. Obviously, he'd brought some sort of lube which meant he'd planned to...do _this_ all along.

I pushed out against his fingers, but it didn't take much effort. I was still rather...stretched from Madara's...efforts the night before.

He pressed his fingers deep and rolled them around, working my anus while sucking my cock. His fingers hit that place inside me.

Electric ecstasy burned throughout my pelvis region then raced up my spine to arch my back. Right on the edge of filling his mouth with cum, I moaned and shuddered,

His hand tightened around my cock, stopping my release, and he pulled his mouth from me. "Don't you dare. Not yet." His fingers withdrew from my ass and then the sound of his belt being released, and the sound of a zipper. Kaname lifted his head, his jaw still tight, almost angry.

I leaned up on my elbows and frowned. "Kaname, what...?"

"Shut up." His hand slammed over my mouth hard, shoving me flat on the desk again. He released my mouth to haul my other leg up over his shoulder. Then gripping my thighs with bruising force, he practically rammed himself into me.

It wasn't comfortable by any means. I arched up and gasped out a startled choking cry. However, I had been close to ready for him, so the discomfort faded quickly to become merely tight fullness.

Leaning over me, Kaname held perfectly still, his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched. "Don't fight me, just let me..." His black gaze met mine briefly. "I need you, right now."

I smiled, though it wasn't easy. He was iron hard, and apparently not in the mood to be gentle. "It's okay. I want you too." I reached up above my head to grab onto the side of the desk.

Kaname released a long breath. "Good, good..." He pulled back to ram right back in deep and hard.

We both gasped and groaned.

Head up but eyes closed, Kaname proceeded to fuck the hell out of me, pistoning in and out with fierce urgency. His breath came in open-mouthed pants and his face looked as though he were in pain. However, he somehow made sure to hit that sweet spot inside of me on every stroke.

Brutal pleasure hammered through me and right up my spine on each thrust. It was so good I had to cover my own mouth with one hand to smother my cries while hanging onto the edge of the desk with white-knuckles.

Kaname choked then groaned. "Gods, I'm cumming." He grabbed for my dick, pumping it for all he was worth.

Climax rose in a violently hard wave, arching my back and stealing my breath.

Kaname grabbed the back of my neck and yanked me up to meet his mouth, nearly folding me in half. His choking cries of pleasure mixed with mine. His cock pulsed in my ass and hot wetness jetted deep inside me. Apparently, he hadn't worn a condom.

My hot cum splattered both our bellies. I hadn't worn one either.

Kaname released my mouth panting for breath and pulled back. "Gods... I waited for you."

I stiffened then sat up. "What?" Liquid slid down the crack of my ass then down the back of my thighs. Kaname definitely hadn't been wearing a condom. I winced at the mess.

Kaname stared hard at my leaking ass, then reached down to his dropped pants and fished into the back pocket. He pulled out a plastic baggie with a wad of diaper wipes, opened the package to pull out a few wipes, then offered the bag to me.

He had definitely planned this with the _intent_ to skip the condoms.

I took the wipes and started to apply it to the mess on my stomach, and ass. The whole session had taken maybe ten minutes at the most.

After cleaning himself, Kaname chucked his used wipes into the waste basket at the side of the desk and pulled his pants up. "At my house, I waited for you, but you never came." He reached down to pick up my pants and set them on the desk beside me. "And when I came to school, there you were. Only it _wasn't_ you. I could feel it on my skin that it wasn't you, but..." He looked away to straighten his shirt and buckle his belt. "It was...hard, seeing you but not talking to you, not...touching you, even though I _knew_ it wasn't you." He choked out a tight laugh. "Sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

"No. It doesn't sound stupid at all." He'd _missed_ me. It was a strange feeling, knowing that you were missed. Warm, yet guilty at the same time. I slid off the desk. My knees wobbled just a bit. He'd fucked me _hard_. I dragged my underwear and pants on. "I couldn't go to your house. I was...someplace Natori and his spirits couldn't get to me."

He turned to look at me with a snort. "Where was that, the top of the mountain?"

I winced. Kaname's intuition was just plain scary. I tucked in my shirt and buckled my pants closed. "Yes, actually. I was in an old shrine at the top of the mountain, a _really_ old shrine that no one knows about any more." I hopped back onto the desk with only a minor flinch, and grabbed for my lunch box. I was suddenly _starving_. "No one human anyway."

He blinked and reached for his neglected lunch box. "You had spirits guarding you?"

I flinched. I hadn't meant to say that last bit out loud. _Too late now_. I sighed and untied the knot in the cloth napkin tied around the box. "Yes, I did. One of them, Hinoe, was the other 'me' you saw. She was acting as a decoy to keep Natori from figuring out where I really was."

Kaname's eyes widened. "I had no idea that spirits were _helpful_."

"They can be." I smiled sourly. "If there's something in it for them." Such as keeping the _Book of Friends_ out of Natori's hands. "Although sheer entertainment value seems to count too." I stuffed my mouth with Touko's lunch and groaned. Gods, she was a good cook.

Kaname snorted. "I can see you definitely having _entertainment value_."

My mouth was too full to reply, so I gave him a mock glare. 

Kaname chuckled then sat down next to me and opened his black lacquer lunch box. "So that's it?"

I nodded, then swallowed. "Natori will be gone in a few days. I just have to keep out of reach until then."

More like, keep out of _hand's_ reach. As long as I kept my clothes on, and kept Nyanko --Madara-- nearby, I'd be fine around him. I still had a few choice words for the son of a bitch, starting with ' _I told you so_ ', and ending with ' _Don't try that again_ '.

I smiled at Kaname. "So, what else happened while I was gone?"

Kaname and I finished our lunches while talking about things that didn't actually matter. It was nice. On the way back, we detoured by the boys' john to clean up a bit more thoroughly, among other business.

The rest of school progressed fairly normally, except for yet another failed test I'd have to do again on Saturday.

After school, Nyanko was waiting in the grass for me. Even so, I stuffed him in my gym bag and spent my pocket change on a bus ride with Kaname, but only as far as the bus stop on the other side of town, a couple of blocks from my house. I wasn't about to take the chance that Natori was lying in wait for me.

I wanted to confront him on _my_ terms, not his.

~ * ~


	19. Chapter 19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Nineteen ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked from the bus stop with a light heart and smiled up at the sky. Kaname didn't hate me. I hadn't lost my friend.

From behind me came strangely familiar sounds. _Scrape-clop-jingle, scrape-clop-jingle_...

I turned to look.

A female spirit in gray antique robes that were more than a little ragged was coming up the walk. Shoulder-length pale brown hair spilled from behind a double-horned mask with one large eye. A thick rope was tied around her neck and trailed behind her. She passed me close enough that her robes brushed against my coat sleeve.

I blinked in surprise. I'd seen that spirit before--the day I met Natori. I turned to look at her. "Oh, hey there." Almost the instant the words left my mouth I winced. More than a few spirits resented humans that could see them.

Briefly, she glanced back at me, but continued walking.

I heaved a small sigh then continued on my way home. I had a _lot_ of studying to do.

~ * ~

I awoke to the alarm, and shoved Nyanko off my stomach to shut the blaring thing off. I slumped back on the futon mattress. It was Saturday morning and I had four tests to look forward to--one right after the other.

It was _not_ going to be a good day.

A knock sounded on my doorframe followed by a familiar feminine voice. "Takashi?"

I rolled to sit up. "I'm up, Touko."

"Good! I have pancakes on the table. Hurry down and eat."

"Yes, ma'am." After rolling up the mattress and shoving it in the cabinet along with the blankets and pillow, I trotted down the hall to the bathroom to brush my teeth, among other morning necessities. Back in my room, I threw on my school uniform, grabbed my book bag, and tripped over a still sleeping Nyanko.

From the _sake_ fumes wafting up from him, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't actually asleep. He was passed out. Apparently, he'd gone out drinking after I’d gone to bed.

With a smile that I knew good and well was sly, I spoke right next to his ear. "Mmm... Touko's serving Western pancakes and they're all _mine_."

Nyanko's eyes popped open. "Pancakes?" He leapt up on all four tiny feet and growled at me, his bob-tail straight up, and his fur on end. "You're _not_ having _my_ pancakes!"

I grinned. "Oh, really?" I turned and bolted down the hall.

Growling up a storm, Nyanko chased after me.

I thunked down the stairs as fast as I dared--with my hand firmly on the rail.

Nyanko took that opportunity to turn into a rolling ball and bounced down the stairs past me, then skidded to the left into the kitchen. "My pancakes! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Grinning, I hit the bottom of the steps and skidded into the kitchen right behind him.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day after all?

Four hours later, when the noon bell rang, I walked up to the teacher's desk at the head of the empty classroom and handed in my last test -- Japanese literature. I actually liked the subject so I knew I'd done well, though probably not enough to ace it. I was a good student, not a _great_ one.

Red pen in hand while he busily graded papers, the teacher nodded absently and waved me off.

Back in my overcoat and hound's-tooth muffler with my book-bag over my shoulder and lunch in hand, I headed out of the school.

Nyanko met me in the tall grass of the school's front lawn. "How's about we eat lunch in the park?"

The park wasn't a bad idea. The breeze was a little chilly, but the sun was just warm enough to counter it. My brow lifted. "We...? Oh, did you bring a lunch?"

"Don't be greedy Natsume." Nyanko lifted his nose and turned his face away. "Touko made those fried fish snacks for me, and you know it."

"Oh really?" I started strolling across the dyke's stone bridge toward the park. "I could have sworn I heard her say, 'Make sure you eat _all_ the fish, Natsume. So your bones will grow strong!'"

Nyanko bounced up onto my shoulder --heavily-- and hissed in my ear. "She said no such thing! She said..." His voice swept up into a higher pitch. "Make sure you save some for Nyanko-chan!"

I bit back my grin. Teasing the cat was always fun. "Are you _sure_ about that? I could have sworn you were still in the kitchen stuffing yourself with pancakes."

The cat spat. "Well, I wasn't!"

"I think you were."

"I wasn't!"

The argument carried on all the way to the park. The leaves on the trees were flame and gold, a gorgeous autumn display. However, it was more than a little...crowded with sight-seers there to look at the leaves.

Nyanko jumped off my shoulder and toddled onto one of the major paths.

I could have left him to his own devices, but that was _never_ a safe idea, so I followed him.

The cat took a sudden sharp left and hopped up on a bench right under a huge spreading maple. It was actually quite pretty--and bright. Every leaf looked like it had been dipped in blood red paint.

I frowned at him. That he picked a bench under the biggest and brightest tree around wasn't unusual. However, that he wanted to sit in an area that was practically crowded with people _was_. Nyanko didn't like humans. In fact, he barely tolerated his own kind.

His tiny mouth abruptly spread into a huge and obviously fake Cheshire Cat grin.

My eyes narrowed in open suspicion, I approached the bench. "What are you up to now?"

His grin dissolved into huge eyes and a tiny 'mew'.

I jerked back a step. Was he was trying to be _cute_? "Don't _do_ that! It's scary!"

He blinked his eyes back to their proper size and shape, huffed loudly, and reached out with one tiny paw to pat the bench beside him.

I sighed and went to sit next to him. I had no idea why he wanted to sit out in the open, but I strongly suspected he had a reason. I opened the napkin-wrapped lunch box and handed over one of the fish.

Despite a small tussle over the last piece of fish, lunch was finished in pretty quick order. In fact, I ate every last grain of rice then looked for strays I might have missed.

Nyanko looked at me with one of his sly smiles. He spoke softly, but his voice was almost Madara deep. "Hungry, Natsume?"

Something about the tone sent a bolt of heat straight to my gut and a ping of warmth to my cheeks. I dodged his gaze by closing the box and wrapping the napkin around it. "I can never get enough of Touko's cooking."

A flurry of feminine oh's and ah's came from the far end of the walkway.

I looked up out of sheer curiosity.

Surrounded by females and almost visible sparkles while illuminated by a sunbeam, was a smiling, golden-haired Natori wearing a black velvet jacket.

I stiffened, but forced myself to relax. He didn't have anything on me anymore. I could leave anytime I liked. Even so, my hand snuck out to stroke down Nyanko's furry back.

Nyanko loosed a soft chuckle and rolled his paws under him, his eyes narrowing to slits.

Natori's smiling gaze passed right over me, then he froze and his eyes widened slightly. His head turned sharply to look back at me again. A rather obvious double-take. He waved past his surrounding crowd of admirers. "Oi! Natsume!"

I nodded to him, but stayed right where I was. I was not ever going to approach him again. If he wanted my company, he was going to have to come to me.

Easier said than done -- for him anyway. Without his hat and glasses disguise, Natori had gathered a rather large crowd. It took him more than a little while to politely disentangle himself.

I couldn't help but smile at his dilemma. "Jeeze, that guy... The second I see him he causes problems."

Eventually, Natori made it all the way to my bench to lean over me. "So, Natsume..."

Despite the fact that my heart was beating in my mouth, I smiled mildly up at him. "Natori."

His gaze narrowed just a hair. "I've been looking for you."

In that instant, I realized that I wasn't _frightened_ of Natori, I was _furious_ with him. Amazing how fear and anger can feel so similar. I widened my smile to hide the clenching of my teeth. "Oh, I know. I've been a little--" I stood up, and met his gaze, eye to eye. "--Busy."

Natori's eyes widened, clearly taking in my added height--and bulk. "I'll say..." His smile returned--with extra wattage. "You were cute before, but damn you look _good_ now."

I brightened my smile too. "Healthy?"

He happily nodded. "Oh, yes..."

"Well fed?"

His smile froze on his lips and his eyes narrowed a hair.

 _Bingo_. Madara was right. The bastard had been _feeding_ on me. My smile evaporated. "I told you I would break it." My gaze narrowed. "And I wouldn't try _that_ again if I were you." I figured I’d let him make of that what he liked.

Natori's smile returned only it was his natural smile, his sly smile. "That wouldn't be a threat now, would it?"

I gave him a sly smile of my own. "More like, a promise."

His smile disappeared again. "My offer of apprenticeship still stands."

I crossed my arms before me. "Your apprenticeship comes with strings." My brow lifted "Or should I say, _a leash?_ " 

Natori fisted his hands at his sides, his eyes narrowing. "It doesn't have to! I'm just...!" He winced and looked away.

I lowered my arms and my voice. "Just, what?"

"Tired." His eyes closed briefly and he sighed heavily. His hands fell open at his sides. "Tired of being--" His voice dropped to a soft whisper. "--Alone."

I released a breath. "I know how you feel, believe me."

Natori looked over at me with a sour smile. "Do you?"

I gave him a very level look. "The people I am currently living with are not related to me by blood because those that _are_ don't want a creepy kid living with them. The reason I am two years older than my classmates is because when I got here, I repeated the last two years of middle school. I was passed around so much, I wasn't in one school long enough to _take_ the exams to get into a high school, never mind passing them." I lifted my chin. "These past few years are the longest I have been in any one place since I can remember."

Natori winced then let out a breath. His smiled returned, though not nearly as brightly--or as sly. "I guess you _do_ understand."

I offered a small smile. "I don't mind being friends with you, but I'll have to think on anything else." My smile tightened. "You're not exactly trustworthy."

Natori winced dramatically. "I suppose I earned that."

My chin lifted. "You _suppose_...?" I set my hands on my hips. "Like there's _any_ doubt?"

Natori's eyes widened and his lashes became damp with unshed tears. He clasped his hands before him, the very picture of earnestness. "Please give me the chance to earn your trust back, Natsume?"

I blinked at him. _Puppy eyes_? I rolled my own eyes. _Freaking, actor_... "You can begin by stopping with the fake expressions."

Natori slumped where he stood and scowled briefly.

I couldn't help but grin. "Much better."

Natori rocked back on his heels and shook his head. "Fine." He stuck out his hand. "Friends, then?"

I lifted my hand to shake his hand.

Nyanko leaped from the bench to head-butt my hand away. He gave me a passing glare that said quite clearly, " _Don't touch him_."

Natori blinked at the rotund tri-colored cat and choked out a laugh. "Good heavens, he's hysterical!" Grinning, he leaned down to peer at Nyanko. "What _is_ he?"

I shot Nyanko a quick glare. "He's uh, my cat."

Natori dropped down to one knee to look closer at Nyanko. "That's a _cat_?" He burst into laughter.

 _Stupid me_. Of _course_ Natori could see what Nyanko _wasn't_. Suddenly, a stab of guilt hit me right through the heart. I'd just nailed Natori for not being trustworthy, and what do _I_ do? I lie to him. I huffed out a breath. "No, not really. Nyanko isn't really a cat."

Natori's laughter abated to a mere smile. "I see. Thank you." He reached out to stroke his hand down Nyanko's back. "What a cute servant you have."

Nyanko bared his tiny fangs and the fur lifted down his back. With a loud growl, he burst up from the ground to slam his head under Natori's chin--hard. "I'm _not_ his servant, you idiot, I'm his _Master_!"

Natori was knocked back hard and landed sprawling. He stared up at the sky briefly then sat up to rub his jaw. "Oh, my..."

I snorted. Served him right.

A wind came out of nowhere to coalesce into the curly-haired, blind-folded, goat woman spirit from the paper demon. Long nails out and fangs bared, she charged at Nyanko. "How _dare_ you touch my master, you fat cat!"

Nyanko reared up on his tiny hind paws and brandished his needle-sharp claws. "What are you gonna do about it, Frizz-head?" 

Hissing and screaming, they charged each other to start brawling -- right in the middle of the crowded park.

I dashed between the two of them and punched out to either side, slamming my fists into both their heads simultaneously. "Cut it out!"

Both of them went sailing.

Natori stared at me wide-eyed. "That was...potent."

"Yeah, well..." I shook my hand, my knuckles stung from Nyanko's head. "It works."

Natori smiled but it was a trifle, uncertain. "It certainly does." His voice dropped to a whisper I almost didn't hear. "When _you_ do it."

~ * ~


	20. Chapter 20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twenty ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nyanko and the goat-horned female spirit rolled around on the ground holding their bruised heads moaning.

I refused to feel the slightest bit guilty for punching them both.

Natori finally rose from the ground where Nyanko had laid him flat, and walked over to stand at my side. "I have to perform an exorcism tomorrow at noon. Would you like to give me a hand, or at least come by and watch?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I distinctly remember refusing to be your apprentice."

Natori lifted both hands and leaned back a hair. "I didn't say you'd be one! I just thought you might like to see how an exorcism is done."

Suspicion burned up my spine and my hands balled into fists at my sides. "If this is some kind of stupid trap...?"

Natori's gaze dropped briefly to my fists and he waved his hands before him. "Not at all! It's completely legitimate! In fact it's the reason I'm here in town, to do this exorcism."

I folded my arms before my chest. "I'd need to know more about it first."

Natori nodded and smiled. "I'd be happy to tell you everything." His smile slipped away. "But, all the information is..." His gaze slid from mine. "In my room at the inn." He darted a tenuous smile at me. "If you don't mind coming by?"

It almost looked like guilt.

My eyes trained on Natori, I called out. "Nyanko, we're going."

Natori frowned slightly. "You're bringing your...?"

"Cat." I let a sour smile lift the corner of my mouth. "That's how everyone else sees him."

Natori frowned at the moaning creature walking up to my side. "I don't see _how_."

I sighed. "Personally, neither do I." I shook my head and shrugged. "But it's easier to just let them think what they like."

Nyanko hopped up onto my back and crawled onto my shoulder. "Ow... Ow... Ow..." He rubbed his head with one paw. "Did you have to hit me so _hard_ , Natsume?"

I turned to scowl at him. "Did you have to start a fight in a public place?"

Nyanko's gaze slid away from mine. "So, where are we going?"

I turned to settle an even look on Natori. "Natori's room at the inn. He's planning an exorcism and he wants me to see it."

Nyanko head lifted. "Sounds interesting." He waved a regal paw at Natori. "Lead the way, brat."

Leave it to Nyanko to make me look like I had no protection what so ever.

Once again, I followed Natori through town to his traditional Japanese room at the inn above the coffee shop. However, this time the reason and the circumstances were completely different--and I was far from defenseless.

Natori opened his door, pulled off his shoes, and set his coat on the hook just inside the door. He made a point of closing the sliding doors to the bedroom.

I slipped off my shoes, hung my coat on an adjacent hook, and pretended not to notice.

Natori strode across the main room to step behind the low black table before the lathe covered windows and sat cross-legged on the pillow. He began spreading out papers and maps.

I sat on the pillow on the opposite side. No way in hell was I going to sit _next_ to him. 

Still whining about the bump on his head, Nyanko sat on my immediate right.

The two spirits that worked with Natori coalesced into being. Both of them sat neatly and primly to either side of him, the black-haired woman on the left and the goat-horned woman on the right.

Natori set his glasses on his nose and smiled at me. "I'll begin with introductions." He nodded toward the right. "This is Sasago." He nodded toward the goat-horned woman on his left. "This is Urihime." He motioned toward the black-haired spirit -- the one that had very nearly nearly strangled me and Kaname. "They're my bound spirits."

I flinched at the word 'bound', but only a little.

Natori pulled over a local map and tapped his finger on it. "We’ve been living in Sasaki village, which isn't far from here." He tugged over a paper covered in neatly written notations. "I'm currently fulfilling a request from an old family. Their storehouse has been locked for decades because it's rumored that anyone who opens it will be cursed. Unfortunately, they recently hit hard times, so they called in a pawn broker to liquidate whatever was in there." Natori used a dry writing brush to point to a different place on the map.

The name of the street under the tip of his brush looked strangely familiar.

"The owner opened the storehouse and the broker went in to examine the contents without any problems, but ever since then, the broker has been having night terrors in addition to a string of bad luck, including a few nasty accidents.

I frowned. "You're _sure_ a spirit is behind that?"

Natori gestured with his brush toward the spirits at his sides. "According to what they found, yes." He set his elbow on the map spread out on the table and propped his chin on his hand. "Apparently, during the last war when the family sealed their valuable in the storehouse, a spirit took up residence. It's caused quite a hassle for the family." He shook his head. "Spirits always cause so many problems."

I sat back and crossed my arms. "Perhaps, but then we don't always know their reasons, why they're doing what they're doing."

Natori's brows lifted then he chuckled. "How kind... Are you siding with the spirits?"

I gave him a glare from the corner of my eye. "If you want to put it that way."

Natori shook his head and chuckled a bit more while using his last two fingers to push his glasses higher on his nose.

I frowned at the action. "Natori, are your eyes really that bad?"

He blinked me. "What? These?" He tapped a finger against the frame. "Oh, they're fake -- plain glass." He smiled. "It's easier to see spirits through glass or in mirrors than with the naked eye."

My attention was abruptly caught by something else.

The shadowy lizard that wandered all over Natori's body abruptly slipped out from under his sleeve. It scampered around his arm to loop around his wrist completely, bit its own tail, and froze in place.

 _It looks like a bracelet._ A smile lifted my lips.

"That's the first time I've seen you smile like that." Natori's face gentled into a smile that wasn't sly, or fake, merely mildly amused. "Looks like this mark of mine can be useful after all." He leaned back in his seat and his smile bloomed into one that actually graced his face with something close to kindness. "You really are a _nice_ kid; a nice, normal kid."

I very nearly laughed. "Is that so?"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." He reached out to pat my head.

Nyanko eyed him from where he sat at my side, but he didn't prevent the contact.

Perhaps smiling at Natori's mark was a bit insensitive of me, since it was something that was very likely eating his life away. However, it gave me the chance to see him smile for real. It gave me a chance to see who really lived under that mask of loneliness, fear -- and control.

It was nice.

Shortly after that, I rose to my feet. "I need to go. They'll be worried if I stay any longer." I turned to the doorway to get my coat and shoes.

Natori didn't stop me, or even suggest that I stay longer. Instead, he got up and grabbed his coat too. "I'll walk you through the park."

Out of the inn and through town Natori talked to me about his work as an exorcist, the spirits he'd seen, and the places he'd gone. In the park, we took a lesser used path and his happy chatter continued. He picked up a large branch for no apparent reason and swung it around, rather like a kid.

For once, I felt completely at ease in his company.

"Anyway..." He abruptly offered me a slip of paper. "I'll be waiting for you tomorrow at the storehouse. Here's the address."

I looked over at him and frowned. "I didn't agree to help you."

Natori rolled his eyes. "You don't _have_ to help me. You can just watch if you like." He smiled with amazing sweetness. "But I'd really like it if you _did_ help, even a little."

A wind moaned from beyond the trees. "Natsume..." A breath of power sailed with it.

Every hair on my body rose. Whatever it was, it was _big_ \-- and it was getting closer.

"Natsume... Give me the _Book of Friends_..."

I looked to the thicket on my right. Something was definitely there--and it was coming in fast. I glanced up at Natori. _If I don't leave now, he's going get involved in my mess_. I pasted a grin on my face. "Well, I'll be going now!" I turned sharply to the left to lunge into the opposite trees.

Natori grabbed my arm. "Wait! You don't have to keep these things from me."

Jerked to a halt by his grip on my arm, I turned to look at him. "Huh?" That's when I spotted the yellow paper _sutra_ speared on the end of the stick Natori was carrying.

That was also when the huge black-haired spirit came tearing through the trees to grab for me. "Natsume...!"

Natori stabbed the stick right through its left eye -- while _grinning_.

Blood sprayed. The spirit screamed.

The sound pierced right through me, nearly stopping my heart with horror. That spirit was in pain -- _real_ , horrible, excruciating _pain_.

Still grinning, Natori raised his stick with both hands, clearly planning on stabbing the spirit again.

"Wait! _Stop_!" I threw myself in front of Natori to block him. "You hurt it enough!"

Weeping and clutching its bleeding eye, the spirit took that moment to escape back into the trees.

Natori looked at me with the nastiest, coldest, most hateful smile I’d ever seen on anyone's lips. "What for?" His voice practically frosted the air. "It's after you, isn't it?"

I bared my teeth and shouted at him. "I said, that's _enough_!"

With that glacial smile still in place, Natori looked at me with almost unseeing eyes. "You're far too soft. You can't just let things like that go around attacking people, right?"

 _People_? Defending yourself against an attacker --spirit or not-- _was_ perfectly sensible, but that spirit wasn't targeting _him_. It was targeting _me_ \-- _only_ me, and for _a reason_! White hot fury boiled up in me. "It _that_ how you exercise spirits? By _hurting_ them?"

Natori's glacial smile didn't shift one bit. "But _you_ can see them, right? With spirits harassing you like this, surely you understand why...?"

I did _not_ understand -- not at all. He _wanted_ to hurt that spirit, in fact he _enjoyed_ hurting it. All of a sudden, I began to wonder if _this_ was his true face; how he really was under all that sunlight and fake glitter, under all that loneliness and need for control -- frozen to the core with hatred for spirits.

It made me so... _angry_ I shook with it. What he had done to me was controlling and extremely selfish, but _this_ was pure cruelty. It was _barbaric_. I shouted right in his face. "That's right! I _can_ see them! I can _hear_ them too!" I pointed at his stick which was dripping with the spirit's blood. "If _this_ is how you do your exorcizing, then I can't help you! I _won't_ help you!"

Natori's eyes widened in open surprise. His icy smile cracked and melted. 

The steam abruptly ran out of my fury and my voice dropped down to an almost pleading tone. "Sooner or later, that hateful attitude will come back at you! Hate only makes things more hateful!"

Well, it made sense while I was saying it.

I looked away, somewhat embarrassed by my outburst. "Anyway, that's how I see it." I glanced back at Natori.

The coldness was completely gone from his expression. He looked almost...lost--abandoned.

Despite my best efforts, a pang of sympathy wrenched my heart. He apparently thought --was convinced-- that what he was doing was _right_.

But it _wasn't!_ It _wasn't_ right to cause pain beyond reason, not to anybody, human or not! I was _not_ going to apologize or take back what I’d said. Sensible or not, I meant it.

But I hated to see anyone suffering, even him.

I took hold of Natori's arm and looked him in the eye. "Thank you, for helping me." Then I walked away. With a silent Nyanko toddling at my side, I left him standing there in the middle of the path, alone.

I felt so...hollow.

I'd finally met someone who could see the things I saw, who knew the things I knew, who straddled both worlds yet was truly part of neither just like I was -- and I couldn't understand him at all.

Nyanko huffed at my side. "The moment he touched me, I knew he hated us spirits. I could feel it."

 _Us?_ Was I included in that statement? I almost cracked a smile, but the very thought that Natori might actually see me as a spirit was bitterly depressing. It would mean he hated me too.

Nyanko looked up at me from the corner of his eye. "The spirits must have done one hell of a number on him over the years."

It made me wonder. Would the same thing eventually happen to me -- the coldness, the _hate_?

Dear god, I hoped not.

~ * ~


	21. Chapter 21

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twenty-One ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the walk homeward, the setting sun colored the clouds with scarlet and deep violet -- like a bruise. My shadow on the white-washed wall on my right was tall and just as bruise tinted. It suited my mood perfectly. My heart ached as though it had been punched.

At my side, Nyanko toddled along without saying a word.

Natori hated spirits. He hated them so much he went out of his way to _hurt_ them. I could understand being afraid of them. I could even understand lashing out in self-defense. Many spirits were downright creepy, and all of them could be extremely dangerous if provoked, but _hate_...? I just didn't get that. I’d met more than a few people -- ordinary human people -- who were just as creepy and dangerous as any spirit, and far less honest.

The gods only knew what horrible thing Natori was planning to do to the spirit he was going to exorcise.

With a heavy sigh, I turned the corner -- and tripped. Startled, I looked down. A thick rope lay in a line in the middle of the sidewalk. I looked up the sidewalk to find that the rope went all the way down the walk and around the corner. I looked behind me and found the other end the same -- trailing down the walk to turn the corner. Wondering where the end was, I picked up the rope and tugged in both directions.

"Stop that, brat!" The voice was angry, and feminine.

Startled, I whirled around.

Only an arm's reach behind me was the ragged female spirit in the one-eyed, one-horned mask that I’d seen twice before. The rope was knotted around her throat.

I dropped the rope as though it burned and put up my hands in open surrender. "Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

The spirit huffed and folded her arms across her meager chest. "Well, now you do. Don't do it again!"

I bowed my head. "Yes ma'am. I'm really, truly, sorry ma'am."

She turned her back on me walked back the way she came, trailing the rope.

Curiosity burning in me, I followed her. Who had tied her up? What was she tied to? Was there any way I could help her? Was her name in the _Book if Friends_...? My gaze went to her tattered bandages fluttering around her hand. "Um, since it's kind of bothering me, will you let me fix your bandage? Please?"

She stopped then sighed, her shoulders dropping. "Fine. Anything to get you to stop bothering me." She clopped on her wooden clogs all the way to the steps of a wide open gate. It was set in a white-washed wall that surrounded what looked like an old run-down storehouse. With a weary sigh, she sat on the top step. The rope around her neck was knotted to an old black-iron, three-sided knife, an antique _kunai_ that was jammed deep into the gate's frame. There were weathered claw marks in the wood all the way around the knife's blade.

I frowned at the knot. "Who tied you up?"

She lifted her chin and sniffed deeply. "Oh, you have the same scent as that child."

I blinked. _Eh...?_ "What child?" Had she been tied up by a _child_?

"Sit down." She patted the stair she sat on. "Hurry up and fix this then leave me the hell alone." She lifted her hand with the trailing bandages.

I sat beside her and took her hand to work on unwinding the bandages. Her palm was warm.

"Long ago..."

I looked up at her. "Eh?"

She waved her other hand to indicate that I keep working.

I nodded and went back to sorting the long strips of cotton wrapped around her fingers and palm.

"Long ago, I was a mountain guardian. I was captured by a sorcerer who put this rope on me and bound me to that gate. He then commanded me to the guard this house and curse anyone that entered the storehouse."

I blinked at her. "You've been here _that_ long...?"

The spirit shook her head and waved her other hand in dismissal. "Anyway, someone recently went into the storehouse. I've been traveling back and forth to curse him."

I nodded. _Why_ I was nodding stupidly over the fact that she was traveling back and forth to _curse_ someone is beyond me, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time. "Which is why I keep seeing you."

She scowled. "You mean, bothering me."

I ducked my head and blinked at what I held. I'd finally finished unwrapping her hand. It wasn't pretty. Her nails were broken, no shattered and splintered... Her fingertips were horribly torn with heavy scars from cuts that had clearly gone to the bone. I eyed the deep and weathered scratches on the gate. Had _she_ done that to try to escape -- with her _nails_? I fished in my book-bag for my first aid kit and dug out a fresh roll of cotton gauze.

Just for the record, _of course_ I keep a first-aid kit in my book-bag. With all the spirits chasing after me, carrying one is merely practical. You wouldn't believe how many sticky bandages I go through daily just from running through bushes.

She sighed. "If I don't curse him, the rope will squeeze until it beheads me."

I stiffened. A _human_ had done this to her -- hunted her, trapped her and then bound her with the threat of beheading? A _human_ , not a spirit? What Natori had done to me seemed almost...gentle.

"I used to try to escape." The spirit slumped where she sat. "I eventually gave up on that and just...sat here, alone. Years went by. Many, many years... And then one spring, a boy walked right up to me."

" _What a weird mask -- your hand! It's bleeding_...!"

"He saw me, like you do. He's the one that originally bound my hand." The mask hid her face so it wasn't possible to see if she was smiling, but there was a smile in the gentle tone in her voice -- a sad one.

I knotted the gauze around her hand. "There, done."

She examined the hand I’d just finished binding. "When the treasury was opened this time, my first thought was to simply refuse and let the rope take my head off, to end it right here and now."

I cringed. _Suicide_...

"But fate is cruel." She chuckled sourly and flexed her fingers in the bandage. "That boy has returned -- as an exorcist."

I sucked in a sharp breath. Did she mean _Natori?_ Oh gods, no... With the way he truly hated spirits, he would _destroy_ her.

She looked up at the setting sum. "Since it's him, I don't mind being exorcised. I'm happy to sacrifice myself to give him a bit of prestige." She opened her bandaged palm toward me. "It's the least I can do to thank him for his kindness." She sounded almost...happy.

I could _not_ allow Natori to destroy her. I rose and bowed to her. "Thank you for letting me help you."

She waved her hand. "Go on, get out of here, brat."

I left the gate and turned back the way I’d come.

Nyanko suddenly bounced into my path. "Oi! Home is the other way, Natsume!"

I lengthened my stride. "I have to go back to Natori's place and tell him to stop the exorcism. He doesn't know what he's doing -- who he's doing it to...!"

Nyanko bounced into my path. "Natsume, stop! You can't go there right now!"

I brushed him off. "I can't let Natori...!"

"I said stop!" Nyanko head-butted me in the stomach -- hard.

His head knocked all the air out of my lungs and turned my knees to rubber. Gasping for breath, I collapsed against the wall on my left. Wheezing, I pushed against it to stand back up. "Nyanko, what...?"

With a poof of power, Madara's massive white dog form surrounded me. "Idiot brat!" With a growl, he opened his massive jaws and grabbed me by the back of my coat.

"Oi! Let go...!" I fought against the hold, but I was at the wrong angle to punch him.

He lifted his head, pulling me right off my feet, then leapt into the air with me in his mouth. After several bone-chilling seconds though the air, he landed in the patch of woods behind the Fujiwara's house. Behind a screen of bushes, he dropped me sprawling on my stomach only to slap a gigantic paw down on top of me, pinning me to the leafy ground. "Natsume, you can _not_ go near that sorcerer in your current condition."

I twisted around under his paw to look at him. "Condition...? What condition?"

Madara's massive muzzle came down close to my face to speak softly. "You're hungry. If you go to him now, it will be a simple matter to recapture you."

I blinked up at him in confusion. "You want me to wait until after dinner?"

Madara snorted. "Not _that_ kind of hunger." With a poof of power, suddenly I wasn't pinned under a massive dog's foot, but under the body of a tall, muscular, pale skinned man with pointed ears, golden eyes, and insanely long white hair. His scarlet and gold robe draped us both. There was a long white tail too, but that was beside the point. He flipped me over onto my back, dipped his head and his mouth covered mine.

I could taste blue fire on his lips. Almost instantly, my arms looped around his neck to practically pry his mouth open with my tongue for more. My body warmed and tightened so fast my mind literally emptied. Heat poured downward filling my dick at a rate that was painful enough to force a moan from my throat. I locked both legs around his hips and arched up to press myself against his belly.

Madara's arms closed around me, his clawed fingers digging into my coat. He ground his semi-stiff cock against the crotch of my pants and moaned right into my mouth. "Do you really want me to take you here in the bushes?"

 _Take me...here?_ Where I was, what I was doing, and with whom doused over me like cold water. I stiffened in shock. "What...?" With a small yelp, I released Madara's neck and scooted back to sit up. "What just happened?" I rubbed my tingling lips with the back of my hand.

Folding his legs under him, Madara sat up and licked his lips. "I told you, you're hungry."

Oh, _that_ kind of hunger. I frowned in confusion. "But, yesterday I...?" I clamped my teeth shut on the rest -- that I’d already...done it with Kaname.

"You...what?" Madara leaned back on his hands. "You let the Tanuma brat fuck you yesterday?"

My face heated with blinding speed. Had it been _that_ obvious?

Madara rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, it's not like you can hide anything from _my_ nose."

Was he saying I _stank_? My face burned even hotter and I ducked my head. Even so, my gaze locked on the tell-tale bulge under his robes in his lap. "Can we _not_ talk about that?" It wasn't a whine -- _really_.

Madara heaved a sigh. "Natsume, what you don't seem to get is that the blind priest's kid is only human." 

Only _human...?_ I swallowed hard, but the sudden lump in my throat refused to leave. I could barely gather enough breath to speak. "You're saying, he's not...enough."

Madara lifted one shoulder slightly. "He's better company than some humans I could mention, but he's...limited in what he can provide." He leaned forward grasp my chin, making me meet his golden and not-human gaze. "You understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded. I had...an appetite he couldn't fulfill. Kaname was only human, and I...wasn't quite. There was a line between me and everyone else; human and spirit too. Humans didn't need to feed on the life-force, the souls of others, the way spirits did, and spirits didn't live as flesh and blood like humans did. Yet, I did both. I was both and neither at the same time. It probably wasn't Madara's intention, but I couldn't help but feel cut off, left out -- _alone_.

Madara sighed. "Natsume..." He leaned down to bump his brow with mine. "You are _not_ alone."

I stared up at him in open-mouthed shock. Had he heard my thoughts?

Madara chuckled then his hand came down on my head to ruffle my over-long hair. "Your feelings were written all over your face."

I winced and looked away.

"Natsume..." Madara's voice was a deep base rumble that speared straight into my gut.

From under the long fringe of my hair, I looked up at him.

His golden eyes hooded and smoldering, he caught my face in his clawed hands and pressed his lips to mine.

I could taste blue fire on his lips, and I wanted it -- I wanted it _so bad_. I grabbed onto his wrists and sucked on his tongue. A small needy whimper escaped my throat.

Madara was all too happy to oblige. His pleased groan rumbled straight down to my dick. 

My body tightened and began to ache for more than kisses.

Madara's left hand slid to the back of my neck and his lips lifted to kiss my brow. His other hand slid down my right shoulder and arm to grasp my wrist. He pulled on my wrist, gently but firmly, tugging my hand under the folds of his robe until my fingers brushed the shaft of his cock.

I couldn't help but close my fingers around the hot, rigid length. My gaze dropped to his lap and his robes parted to reveal the long thick curve of rigid flesh I held. A glistening drop of precum arose and pooled at the slit. My mouth watered and I licked my lips. It looked so...delicious.

He pressed against the back of my neck, encouraging my head downward. 

I lowered my head to his cock and lapped at the gleaming droplet.

Above me, Madara sucked in a sharp breath.

Blue-fire burned on my tongue and hunger coiled viciously in my gut. My mind completely emptied of everything but the need to have more. I sucked the flared head of his cock into my mouth and stroked the soft silky skin with my tongue. I leaned all the way forward to drop to my elbows between his spread knees and took him deeper into my mouth.

Madara groaned and leaned back on his hands, his legs spreading wide.

I suckled on him as though he were a sweet I couldn't get enough of then took him deep, repeatedly, rising and falling on his cock with enthusiasm. My mouth watered so much my saliva slicked his entire length. The sounds I made were obscenely wet -- and I didn't care. The need to make him cum in my mouth was so overwhelming my hands automatically rose to stroke the length I couldn't swallow. I caressed his sack, rolling his balls and slightly squeezing.

Madara's breath hitched and he groaned. The muscles of his ass and thighs began to tighten under my arms. His hips started jerking upward, driving his cock deeper into my throat.

My throat tightened around him and I very nearly choked, but the need to take him in, to drink him down was strong enough to keep me in place, to wait for his retreat to take a breath. In fact, a small amount of frustration rose in me that I couldn't take him all the way down my throat.

Madara gave a soft gasp. "Almost there." His large hand cupped the back of my head.

I took it for encouragement and enthusiastically sought to suck him harder, and deeper.

His fingers closed on my hair, holding me still while he thrust upward, fucking my mouth. He grunted then groaned.

Suddenly, thick wetness sprayed into my throat, filling it to choking. I swallowed as quickly as breath would allow, then swallowed again, and again. Still he came, filling my mouth to overflowing. My belly filled with scorching blue fire, spreading warmth throughout my limbs. At last, he finished. I drank down the dregs and sucked lightly for the last of it.

With a groan, Madara fell back on the grass.

I sat up and wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. Without thought, I licked the wetness from between my fingers. Make no mistake, I had definitely tasted better things in my life. However, nothing equaled the heady burn of power it carried.

Madara groaned again and smiled at me from under hooded yet burning eyes. "Do you have any idea how hot you look, licking my cum from your fingers?"

I froze in mid-motion. Slowly, I lowered my hand to wipe it on my jacket. My face burned and I looked away.

Madara sat up and snorted. "That was a compliment, idiot."

I couldn't look at him. I couldn't think of a single thing to say either. I had just sucked his cock practically in the Fujiwara's back yard and I hadn't even given a token protest. I didn't even have the excuse of Natori's binding. Even worse, my dick still ached with the need for release.

Wasn't my stay on the mountain was supposed to _fix_ this?

Madara poofed back into Nyanko and toddled out of the bushes. "Come on, let's get you inside."

With one hand clutching my coat closed over my erection, I staggered to my feet then followed him out of the trees. My first assessment had been right. The day had sucked.

Pun _not_ intended.

~ * ~


	22. Chapter 22

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twenty-Two ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the trees behind the Fujiwara's house, I trudged around to the front door only to find it locked with a note taped to it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 _Takashi,_

_I've gone to the Saturday sale at Himawari's Grocery. Your snack is on the table. See you in a few hours._

_\-- Touko_  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


Pathetically grateful that I didn't have to worry about exposing my... _condition_ to Touko, I dug my key out of my backpack and let myself in. I desperately wanted to go upstairs and forget today had ever happened.

The revelation that Natori _hated_ spirits had been a hard kick in the gut I hadn't expected. To make matters worse, on my way home from that depressing eye-opener, I discovered that the spirit Natori planned to exercise tomorrow actually knew him -- and didn't mind _dying_ for him.

I'd wanted to run right back to get Natori to stop the exorcism, but Nyanko had stopped me. That had ended up with me face-down in Madara's lap -- and perfectly happy to be there -- at least until I’d come to my senses. However, by then Madara was sighing in bliss while I was wiping my mouth -- and burning with embarrassment, not to mention aching with frustration.

With a soft moan, I thunked my head against the alcove wall -- twice. Unfortunately, the memory of all that had happened remained firmly in place. So did my...physical condition. I was violently _erect_. Sighing heavily, I hung my coat on the hook, toed off my shoes and padded in my socks to the stairs.

In the kitchen doorway, Nyanko frowned after me. "Natsume, our snack is on the table."

I waved a hand toward him and started climbing the stairs. "I'll eat later." Truthfully, I was glad he was distracted by the food. I really didn't need want to deal with him at the moment. I slid my bedroom door closed behind me, and started stripping off my school uniform. I wanted a shower. Or rather, I wanted to do something about the erection I still had without interruptions, and the bathroom had the only door that locked.

After throwing on a gray cotton robe, I grabbed a set of sweats to change into then padded barefoot down the hall to the bathroom. After closing and locking the door, I stepped over to the tub in the back corner of the bathroom and shoved the cover off. Steam coiled up. A quick look to the side showed that the heater had been left on. I couldn't help but smile. _The gods bless Touko_...! I wouldn't have to wait for the water to heat for a soak -- but first, a shower.

I turned on the water, but not too hot. The water heater wasn't particularly large. If I let it run as hot as I liked, it would run out and turn ice cold before I was done. I stepped under the water and soaked my head with a soft sigh. I washed my hair at top speed, then scrubbed myself quickly but thoroughly.

The shower had no effect on my erection what so ever. Not that I'd expected it would.

I blew out a breath and turned my back to the water. I gripped my dick and slid my wet hand up, stroking from base to head, then back down. An image of Madara in all his tall naked glory came to mind. His silky hair, the way his stomach muscles moved under all that pale skin, his hard cock... My pace quickened and I rubbed my thumb across the top of the head, which felt _divine_. It brought a soft moan from my lips.

My imagination added details, that half-lidded look Madara wore when he was just about to release. The way he licked his lips, the way he kissed, the way he felt inside me...

However, although I got quite a bit harder and that hot point inside me throbbed with intent, I didn't get any closer to release. I frowned down at my very erect, yet stubborn cock. Jacking off had never been _this_ difficult.

I continued, stroking a bit harder and faster until I had to hold onto the wall for balance and panted for breath. Even so, I just couldn't...get there. Something was definitely missing. I glared down at my cock in open frustration. "Damn it!"

"You have to do it from the inside." Madara's deep voice was amused and came only a few feet away.

I whipped my head around.

Tall, elegant, and far too human in form, Madara perched on the broad tile edge of the tub, with his elbows on his spread knees. His hands were folded and propping up his chin. The sleeve of his red and gold robes had slid down his right shoulder showing off one side of his sculpted, milk-white chest and one pale pink nipple. Only loosely tied at his hips, the floor-draping robes had parted to bare one long muscular leg almost to the crotch. The scarlet marks on his brow, cheeks and around his eyes enhanced his exotic face, and his sly smirk.

Embarrassed that I'd been caught staring, I glared at the closed bathroom door. It was most likely still locked too. _Damned spirit_. I turned my glare on him, only to sudden realize what he'd said. I shook my head in confusion. "From...the inside?"

One white brow lifted. "I could help you?"

I pressed back against the tiled wall, pathetically grateful that the hot water had already reddened my skin enough to hide the heat filling my face. "No, that's okay! Just, tell me what you mean." 

Madara sat up smile and his broadened. "If you want to cum, you have to stimulate the inside of you."

My eyes opened wide. "You mean...?" I couldn't say the rest out loud. Inside my _**ass**_?

Madara's grin broadened to show both sets of fangs. "That's right."

I shook my head hard. "I never had to do... _that_ before!" Not just to jack off!

Madara rolled his eyes, sat up straight, and crossed his arms. "Let me guess, you haven't touched yourself since before...?"

He meant, before Natori had taught my body to want something else, some _where_ else. I shook my head. "I haven't had...time." A serious understatement. "I can't...do it the normal way anymore?"

He snorted. " _You_ should know the answer to that better than I." He stared pointedly at my rigid and slightly weeping erection.

I very nearly moved my hands to cover myself out of sheer reflex. However, covering anything was completely pointless. He'd seen it all already, and then some. Of far more importance was that I could no longer get myself off...the normal way. "Shit..." It was only a whisper.

Unfortunately, Madara had very keen hearing. His brow lifted and his smile sharpened to show his fangs. "Your fingers should do it, if they're long enough to reach...?"

My eyes widened. "My...fingers?"

He nodded, and his smile widened.

I frowned, trying to figure out the logistics of getting my fingers...in _there_ , not to mention how far they'd have to go to reach...what I needed to reach.

Madara covered his mouth with his hand, but it was obvious that he was still grinning. "You could try reaching around the back? That would be the easiest way when standing."

I'd already figured that out. It was how I’d applied the burn gel to myself after...the first incident with Natori. However, to reach inside as deep as I needed to go, I'd have to arch my back hard. I turned to face the wall and reached back, arching my spine. Reaching was simple enough, but the friction of entering wasn't exactly comfortable. I needed some kind of lube. My gaze drifted to the hair conditioner in the wire holder suspended from the cold water knob.  

No matter what anyone tells you, soap is a _bad_ idea.

I reached over to grab the bottle of conditioner and poured some over my fingers of my right hand. It had the right consistency and I didn't think it would burn, not like a lotion. I set the bottle back and set my left hand against the tile wall for balance. I reached back and slid a finger around my anus. The conditioner didn't burn at all. I pressed and my middle finger slid right in. _So far, so good._ I wriggled my finger around a bit to get plenty of it in there, then pushed deeper. This required arching back even harder.

My finger sank to the knuckle. I moved it around a bit looking for that spot. If I remembered correctly, it was down and forward. My finger reached that tiny burning bump, and triggered a shudder. A small moan escaped my lips. I pressed against it. A small bolt of lightning burst through me, triggering a gasp. My feet jerked apart all by themselves. 

Oh yeah, that was definitely it, and exactly what I needed to get off. I pressed harder against that button. More of that delicious lightning erupted and my spine rolled, my body grinding on my finger as though it were its own creature apart from me. I felt cum slide through my cock and dribble out. I moaned in pleasure and pressed my left shoulder against the wall for better balance. I shoved in a second finger to go deeper, then began pressing with enthusiasm.

Jolts of harsh pleasure burst through me, curling my toes, and forcing moans from my throat. Balanced against my shoulder I slid my left hand down to wall to grab my dick, since my right hand was busy inside my ass, and started stroking in time with my fingers. It was kind of awkward, but at least I was getting somewhere this time.

There was a groan at my back. "Gods, that's arousing." Suddenly, a tall heated body arched over me, and a huge clawed hand pressed against the wall next to mine.

I stiffened in shock. I’d completely forgotten that Madara was in the room with me.

"Let me help you with that." A large clawed hand closed around my wrist behind me. "I insist." Madara pulled my hand from my butt and replaced it with the broad head of his cock.

Trembling from the effects of my own hands, and far too desperate for release, I simply...let him. 

"Watching you pleasure yourself..." His arm went around my hips, the flat of his palm pressing against my belly. "Was more than anyone could resist." With a groan, he slowly pressed his extremely rigid cock into my unresisting body. His clawed fingers closed on my hips, pulling me back onto him, his cock stretching me wide. "Gods... Tight!"

Gasping, I leaned forward, setting both forearms against the tile wall, and came up on my toes to meet him. Even with his feet spread wide and his knees bent, he was ungodly tall.

Madara hunched over me, and his lips brushed my shoulder. "The way your ass was wiggling on your fingers--" Long teeth scored the side of my neck while his cock ground deep inside me. "--Almost made me cum right there."

I shuddered, not only from the effects of his cock moving within me, but from his deep growling voice.

"You didn't _really_ want your fingers." His hands slid down to grasp my thighs. "You wanted cock." He slid out part way and thrust in, hitting that spot with perfect precision. "Didn't you?"

A hard bolt of carnal lightning erupted in my gut and a choking gasp left my lips.

He pulled back to thrust again -- hard. "Didn't you?"

My feet came up off the tiles with his thrust and erotic lightning exploded in my gut to blaze up my spine and whitewash my mind with brutal pleasure. "Yes!"

With a savage growl, Madara began to pound into me, his fingers bruising on my hips, his claws biting in, though they didn't break the skin.

With every thrust, gasping shouts erupted from me. I scrabbled for purchase against the slick tile wall while my brain completely shut down, every thought in my head erased by the shockwaves of raw pleasure blazing through me. Up on my toes, my feet straining with effort, I ground back against him for more.

Madara was _not_ gentle. I was going to have bruises from his hands, and one hell of an ach in my ass later, but right then I just didn't care. I was getting exactly what I wanted. I wasn't about to make him stop. I wasn't about to _let_ him stop. "More! Harder!"

Madara growled and responded with enthusiasm, and speed. 

All too soon, I was on the verge of cumming.

His broad hand closed around the base of my dick. "Not yet."

I moaned in frustration, my hand dropping to grasp his wrist. I wanted to cum, damn it!

Behind me and above me, Madara grunted with his efforts then suddenly stopped only to slam into me and grind in hard. He moaned, husky and deep, his hand on my hip holding me tight to him, his claws digging in. Inside me, his cock throbbed and heated wetness spurted unto my bowels. "Mmm... Yeah..."

Blue fire spilled into me and spread like wildfire. I moaned long and loud.

His constricting hand slid up to the end of my cock and began to stroke with short, quick pulls. He leaned down to groan by my ear. "Now. Cum now!"

As though it had been waiting for those very words, climax crashed over me. My cock pulsed and released all over the tile wall. I howled in ecstasy.

The shout had barely passed my lips when Madara clamped a hand over my jaw, and jerked my head to the side. His lips covered mine, swallowing my voice. His tongue swept against mine, and he moaned as though tasting something delicious. He released my lips with a sigh.

Exhausted and rolling under the heady fog of release, my body melted against the wall, slumping in Madara's arms.

Madara pulled back, his cock sliding from my body, then wrapped an arm around my chest. With his free hand, he turned off the water. "Okay, into the bath with you."

Still under the haze of ecstasy, I let him guide me to the tub and help me into it. The hot water stung, but it very quickly melted into bliss against my sore muscles -- and abused ass.

Truthfully, I fully expected him to join me, but he didn't. Instead, Madara grabbed a towel and began to wipe himself dry. "Touko is only minutes away from the front door." He grinned. "Good thing we finished when we did. Wouldn't want Touko to know just how much you enjoy getting your ass reamed." 

Embarrassed, I winced and ducked my head.

Madara lifted his red and gold robes from the floor and began to shrug into them. "No big deal. I'll just have to make sure your mouth is covered when I fuck you."

I shot a glare at him. "We are not doing... _this_ here!"

Madara raised a white brow and snorted. "A little late to say that _now_ , isn't it?"

I turned away. It _was_ a little late. "I don't want them to know."

Madara nodded sagely. "Covering your mouth should do it."

Footsteps sounded in the hall. "Takashi?" Touko's voice sounds a bit windblown.

I turned to face the door. "Yes ma'am?" I leaned up splashing a bit of water into the gutters that surrounded the tub. "Do you need a hand? I can get out?"

"No, no! I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn't eat your snack."

I winced. "Uh, when I got in I went straight to the bath." No need to tell her how long I’d been in here.

"Oh, okay! Finish your bath then, and I'll see you downstairs when you're done. How do you feel about shrimp for supper? The grocery story had some incredible deals."

Madara nodded enthusiastically. He loved shrimp.

I smiled. "Shrimp sounds fantastic."

Touko hummed happily. "Shigure really likes shrimp."

My smile broadened. "He sure does, so make sure you make plenty so I'll have some too."

Touko laughed. "Alright! I'll see you downstairs when you're finished." Her footsteps began to retreat.

I called out after her. "I'll be down soon to help you!"

Touko's voice was soft with distance, but I still heard her words. "Such a good boy."

I rolled my eyes. If only she knew.

~ * ~


	23. Chapter 23

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twenty-Three ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Fujiwara, Shigure came through the door at only a quarter after seven. Being a Saturday, he didn't have to work his usual overtime to eight-thirty like he did the rest of the week. Only minutes later, Touko's shrimp extravaganza was spread out on the dinner table -- about dozen different shrimp dishes around a huge bubbling bowl of seafood and vegetable _nabe_ resting on a gas-lit burner.

Shigure was suitable impressed. "All for me? How wonderful!" He grabbed a bowl and the long serving chopsticks with grinning enthusiasm.

"Hey! Grown-ups should learn to share!" I grabbed a bowl and snatched for shrimp too.

Shigure brandished the longer chopsticks and lifted a haughty brow. " _Share_ is it?" He grinned. "I say, every man for himself!"

I grinned right back and pushed up my sleeves. "You're on!" I snatched for the shrimp Shigure had claimed.

Naturally, Shigure had to defend his honor -- and his shrimp. Chop-stick against chopstick, we fought for the coveted prize. Wavering between our battling chopsticks, the contested shrimp went airborne.

Nyanko leaped up from the floor and snatched the flying shrimp from the air. He slurped it down with a satisfied grin -- and a burp.

Laughter erupted around the dinner table. 

Despite everything that had happened that afternoon, the horrible discovery of Natori's true feelings about spirits and the true nature of the spirit he was planning to exorcise tomorrow afternoon... Despite all that, the ice that had formed around my heart melted just enough to let me smile and enjoy dinner with the family that worked so hard to make me a part of them. 

~ * ~

Shigure shook me by the shoulder. "Takashi?"

I looked up from my folded arms somewhat surprised. "Eh...?" Apparently, I’d fallen asleep right there at the dinner table.

The older man grinned. "Let's get you to bed, shall we?"

At the sink, Touko smiled and waved a yellow-gloved hand. She had already cleared the table and started on the dishes. "Sleep well, Takashi."

I struggled to rise from my chair. "I should stay and help...?"

"That's quite alright, Takashi." Shigure caught me under the elbow and steered me out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. "I'd rather not have you fall asleep on the kitchen floor." Walking right behind me, Shigure made sure I made it up the stairs and got my futon bed unrolled -- just in time for me to pass out on him. I'm not even sure if I remembered to shut off the light. 

Dinner might have been peaceful, but my sleep was not.

Once again, I was visited by the shadowed silhouettes and distorted voices of my recurring childhood nightmare. "Nobody wants a liar like you in their family!"

"I'm _not_ a liar!" I struggled against the pressure of their accusations with the only emotion I had at hand, anger. "I'm _not_!"

A soft feminine voice whispered sadly from the misty darkness. "Why can't you just be normal?" It sounded like Touko. It turned its faceless back to me and began to fade into the mist.

Something in me broke and hot tears spilled down my cheeks. I reached out to her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't go!"

The shadow faded into the distance.

I tried to go after her, but there was no ground, no sky, no walls...nothing, but dark mist. "Please, come back! Don't leave me!" My breath hitched with sobs. "I don't want to be alone."

From behind, powerful arms closed around me and a deep masculine voice whispered against my ear. "You're not alone. I'll be with you until the day you die."

For a moment, I was comforted, then I truly saw the arms embracing me.

The arms around me were moon pale and bore jagged tribal slashes of glowing scarlet. They ended in large pale hands that were clawed. Long silver hair flowed past my shoulder and long teeth brushed the back of my neck.

I should have been alarmed. I _wanted_ to be alarmed, but all I could feel was resigned. In that moment, it was so very clear to me that understanding of who, and _what_ I was would never come from humans. They could only, _would_ only accept what was within their own experiences. If they could not see it, feel it, smell it, touch it...it did not exist. To them, what I knew to be real did not exist, and if I could not conform to their view of what was real and what was not, I would find no place among them.

A sharp stab inside my chest doubled me over. It was my heart, and it was ripping in two. The pain was so great I could barely choke out the words I desperately wanted to shout. "It's not fair. I'm human too."

The pale arms around me tightened. "Natsume...? Natsume... _Takashi_."

I gasped in a sharp breath and opened my eyes.

Above me only a breath away was the sleepy, scarlet-marked face of Madara in his human-like form. He stared down at me blinking his golden eyes with lowered brows and a slight frown on his pale lips. His long silver hair draped across his broad shoulders and down the muscular arms that held him above me. He spoke softly and somewhat hoarsely. "Natsume?"

I could feel tears, hot and wet, streaking down my cheeks. Embarrassed, I looked to the side to dodge his gaze. "Just a nightmare."

Madara lifted a hand and brushed a thumb across my wet cheek. "You haven't had one of those in a while."

Being more than half asleep, I didn't think before I spoke. "Naa... I had it last week too." I scrubbed my cheeks with the back of my hand.

Madara abruptly rolled onto his back, his gaze focused on the ceiling, and his lip curled in a sneer that revealed a long tooth. "Triggered by that a sorcerer, no doubt." He shook his head sharply. "That bastard has brought nothing but trouble."

That's when I noticed that Madara was _under_ my comforter right next to me, and utterly in the nude. In the half-light slipping past the curtains, his skin seemed to glow. He curled his lip baring his fangs. "I should have just eaten him and been done with it."

As subtly as I could, I shifted to the side -- away from him. "What are you doing in my bed?"

Madara turned to blink at me and frowned. "What? I always sleep with you."

"As a cat. Not in--" I flicked a hand toward him. "-- _That_ form."

His eyes seemed to ignite with golden light and he smiled, showing his fangs in the process. "Why Natsume, does it bother you?"

Alarmed, I rolled away, presenting my back to him. "Never mind. Just...go back to sleep."

"But you haven't answered my question." The blankets rustled and then his arm was around me, his hand enclosing my wrist. His long body pressed up against mine, his knees nudging against the back of mine. His scent; redolent of fresh leaves, and summer rain that was tinted with the sharp ozone of lightning -- of power, washed over me. He whispered and his breath brushed the back of my neck, right down the collar of my pajamas. "Does this body--" He lifted his head and his long silky hair slid down his arm to pool on the blanket before my eyes. "--Disturb you?"

I froze. My mouth dried and anything I'd thought of saying evaporated from my mind.

His lips brushed against the side of throat, the blunt tips of his fangs scraping lightly. "Or is it more that I--" His voice abruptly deepened to a vibrating purr. "-- _Excite_ you?" He inhaled right under my ear.

A shudder gripped me. My answer? All of the above. He was bothersome, disturbing, and exciting; so much so that I was having difficulty breathing. "Please, I just want to go back to sleep."

"You mean back to your nightmares?"

Pain stabbed right through my heart. I flinched and curled in on myself.

Madara sighed, a soft huff of warm air against the back of my neck. "I have a better idea." His clawed hand released my wrist to press against my belly. "Why don't I--?" His other arm slid under me and came up to close around my chest then gripped my shoulder. "--Comfort you?"

My eyes snapped open wide. "Eh...?"

His hand on my belly grabbed my pajama bottoms, bunching them in his fingers, then yanked them down to my thighs, baring my ass, baring my half-hard cock.

I froze because I was too busy reveling in the electrical burn of anticipation.

His soft chuckle against my ear, however, rankled.

Out of sheer annoyance, I grabbed onto his restraining arm and bucked hard, kicking out. I sucked in a sharp breath to shout.

His hand on my shoulder flew up to cover my mouth, muffling any sound I intended to make. His chuckle right by my ear deepened to almost a purr. "Now, now... Mustn't wake the Fujiwaras, no?" His hand left my pajama bottoms to close on my dick.

With the first stroke of his hand on me, my muffled protests melted into muffled moans.

He threw a long leg over my thighs, trapping me, and pressed in. The hot, rigid length of his cock slid against my butt cheek, smearing wetness. He shifted his hips and his cock slid into the seam of my butt cheeks and aligned with my anus. He didn't enter me, only applied only the slightest pressure to keep his position. Instead, he began to kiss and lick the back of my neck and shoulders while his fingers caressed my cock with hair-raising gentleness.

Apparently, he'd been sincere when he'd said; comfort.

When he had me fully hard and dripping, he released my dick to sweep his hand up my belly to my chest, then plucked lightly at my nipples.

My body bucked in sheer reaction, and in the process, the head of his cock breeched the ring of my anus and entered me. The sudden ache was startling, but not horribly painful. I had not been prepared and the only lubrication came from what was leaking from his dick. However, our earlier...activities in the bathroom had apparently, left me a bit lax. I held still, denying him further entry.

As though completely unconcerned, Madara continued with his gentle caresses across my chest, down my belly, then back up to thumb my nipples, his claws lightly scoring my skin. All of this while licking and sucking on my neck, his voice a deep, rumbling, growling purr that vibrated through me.

I panted and moaned into his palm while my untouched cock throbbed and dripped. I tried to hold still, but despite my best efforts, my body trembled under his fingers -- and opened. Every now and again, I would shudder and writhe just a little and each small movement drove his cock slowly -- painfully slowly, exquisitely slowly -- deeper into my body.

After an eternity of being gently stroked, lightly caressed, affectionately licked, and tenderly kissed; my shudders and writhing finally sheathed him completely within my body. By then, I was weeping, the tears flowing down my cheeks with the need to finish it -- to have him fuck me and just finish it.

However, with his palm over my mouth, I couldn't just ask him for it. Instead, I freed a hand to reach back and grab him by the buttock and pulled him into me.

With a deep low chuckle, Madara began rocking his hips, pumping in and then out of me slowly and with painstaking care.

And so began the longest, sweetest orgasm in my life. Writhing in Madara's arms with his body slowly stroking me inside and out, his growling purr vibrated deep into my body and all the way into my dreams.

I did not have another nightmare that night. There simply wasn't room in my heart.

###### ~ * ~

Morning came with Nyanko snoring at my side  --  and sheets that desperately needed to be washed.

I dragged the sheets and soiled pajamas into the bathroom with me to scrub them in the sink as best I could before burying them in the bottom of the bathroom hamper. After a hot shower and a fierce scrub, I wrapped a towel around my hips to brush my teeth. In the mirror over the sink, I could see a ring of bruises all along my shoulders and the back of my neck. Hickies, kiss-marks, love-bites, fang-marks... _Madara_.

Fury engulfed me. _That son of a bitch_...! He'd marked me, and there was no way in hell it wasn't deliberate. In a fine fit of temper, and wearing only a towel around my hips, I stalked back to my bedroom.

The reek of spent semen practically slapped me across the face.

Absolutely terrified that Touko, or worse, her husband, Shigure, would walk in and smell _that_ , I rushed to the window. I tore open the curtains then shoved the window sash all the way to the left, wide open to get fresh air into the room. The morning breeze was biting cold against my damp skin, but the sun was warm on my face. It was clearly going to be a nice day.

Too bad I had to wear a turtle-neck.

Furious, I raised a fist and turned to confront Nyanko.

The beast was gone.

I kicked at the futon mattress and snarled vehemently, but softly. "You _better_ run, you perverted cat!" Continuing to growl in annoyance, I turned on the small electric floor heater by the bed. The smell was clearing quickly, but it was getting cold just as fast. I went to my dresser for some clothes and dragged on some boxers and jeans, then a cream turtle-neck. Over that, I buttoned on a brown and green flannel shirt.

I had just finished rolling my futon and shoving it toward the wall-closet in the corner when I heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Takashi? Breakfast is ready!"

I gave the futon one last shove to jam it in the wall closet. "Coming!" I closed the closet door then padded over to the window to close it almost all the way. I left it open a crack to make sure that the room was good and aired out. After shutting off the small heater, I left my bedroom, making sure that the door was closed behind me, and padded down the stairs to join the Fujiwaras for Sunday breakfast.

Breakfast ended, and I was helping Touko who was washing the breakfast dishes when I suddenly remembered Natori -- and his scheduled exorcism. I turned sharply to look at the kitchen clock over by the window. It was already a quarter to ten, and I had _no idea_ what time he planned to do his exorcism of the female spirit that remembered him -- and _liked_ him. "Crap!"

Touko turned and frowned at me. "Did you have plans this morning, Takashi?"

I looked over at Touko, and the unfinished dishes. I was pulled in two directions -- the spirit who needed to be saved, and Touko whom I was already helping. "Uh..."

Touko smiled and plucked the dish-towel from my hands. "Goodness, I can handle putting away a few dishes. Go and meet your friends."

I smiled, but it was half-hearted. It wasn't _friends_ I was going to meet. "I'm sorry Touko, ma'am." Impulsively, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you."

Eyes wide, the older woman in her pink apron lifted a yellow-gloved hand dripping with soap to her cheek, and blushed. She abruptly grinned and waved her other hand. "Go! Go! Do whatever it is you planned."

I dashed out to the front foyer and tugged my brown overcoat from the hook. Frantically, I dug through the pockets for the note Natori had pressed into my hand.

Eleven o'clock.

I didn't have much time. I grabbed my scarf and rushed out the door at a run, barely slowing to tug on my coat and throw my scarf around my neck. I _couldn't_ let Natori exorcise that spirit! 

~ * ~


	24. Chapter 24

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **~ Twenty-Four ~**  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My coat flapping open at my sides, and my scarf flying behind me, I ran through the neighborhood. I knew exactly where I was going. Yesterday's memory was burned into my brain.

" _Fate is cruel." She chuckled sourly and flexed her fingers in the bandage. "That boy has returned -- as an exorcist_."

I found the property wall and cursed my idiocy for forgetting to wear a watch. I had no idea how much time I had left. A quick look at the paper Natori gave me showed that he planned to do his exorcism at the front gate. The spirit was pinned to the back gate. I dashed along the property wall hoping to make it in time.

I found the gate and damned near tripped on the walkway flagstones. Panting for breath, I stepped in.

A few yards just inside the wall, Natori, in his long gray coat and cloth hat was scraping a pointed stick in the dirt, inscribing the finishing touches of a circle pattern that was obviously some kind of magic circle. He looked up and smiled. Sunlight gleamed on his glasses. "Oh! I didn't think I’d see _you_ again." He set the stick down and crouched to pick up a paper bag. He pointed at a pack of paper sitting on the ground. "Tear up that paper into little pieces and scatter it over this diagram." He waved toward the circle.

I was not here to help that bastard. I sucked in a deep breath. "Natori, don't you know the spirit you're exorcising today?" Didn't he recognize her?

Natori reached into his paper bag and pulled out a handful of shredded paper. "I know some." He began scattering it over his diagram. "She has a rope around her neck and has been forced to curse people whether she wants to or not." He turned to frown at me. "Doesn't she deserve to be exorcised?"

Deserve to be _exorcised_...? _For being enslaved against her will?_ I fisted my hands at my sides. That attitude of his was pissing me off royally. However, this was not the time to lose my temper. This wasn't about me."Natori, do you remember when you were a kid, the spirit that you bandaged?"

Natori's frown deepened. "Bandaged...?"

I stared at him wide-eyed. He didn't remember. He _didn't_ remember her and she was going to _die_ for him -- _willingly_.

Natori turned back to scattering shredded paper. "When the spirit enters this circle, lighting will strike. You might want to remember that."

I turned and bolted for the gate. I had to get to that spirit and stop her! I couldn't let her come here!

Right next to my ear, an emotionless feminine voice whispered. "And where do you think _you're_ going, brat?" Fast as a snake, long black hair whipped out and wrapped around my arms. I was jerked backwards until I slammed against a tree. Natori's black-haired spirit Urihime, leaned over my shoulder and frowned. "I can't let you interfere." More black hair whipped out to wrap around my shoulder, stomach, hips, securing me to the tree. "Just stay here and be good."

"Natori!" I fought against the hair, twisting hard. "Natori, don't!"

Completely ignoring me, Natori pressed his palms together and began reciting some sort of ritualistic chant. Thick wooden beads hung from one wrist tied with a red tassel. He clapped his hands hard. "--Come. Come. Come..." 

I kept screaming at Natori and fighting the hair that bound me to the tree.

The hollow clop of wooden shoes punctuated by a jingle was surprisingly loud. She had come. Step by step, the spirit in the one-eyed horned mask, her bandaged hand swinging at her side, came up the walk. Without hesitation she began to tread on the scattered paper.

His hands pressed palm to palm before his face, Natori utterly ignored me and continued to chant in a deep sonorous voice.

I yanked and tore at the hair that held me. "Natori, stop! You have to _stop!_  Don't do this!"

The spirit in the mask with one eye and two horns who was once a mountain guardian, stepped fully into the circle and there was no mistaking that she was happy to be there. Even her horned mask wore a smile.

The wind suddenly swirled around her, lifting the papers from the ground to flutter around her. The scent of ozone -- of lightning sizzled in my nose. Static electricity began to snap and crackle among the flutter papers. It was happening. She was going to _die_ for someone that _didn't_ know her, for someone that _hated_ spirits.

I _couldn't_ let that happen! I put all my efforts into throwing myself at the hair that bound me. "Let me go, you bitch! I have to stop them!"

Urihime, the spirit that bound me suddenly shouted. "Boy! Stop! There's nothing you can do!"

"I said, **_let me GO_**!" Power crackled around me. The hair around me suddenly smoked and shredded.

Urihime screamed.

I was free. I lunged for the sparking magic circle, determined to tackle the spirit and throw her out of it. However, when I stepped across the boundary, white hot knives of electricity flashed and stabbed through me. I screamed.

Outside the circle, Natori finally noticed me. "What the hell are you _doing?!_ Takashi, **_get out of there!"_**

It was far too late. The circle was already dancing with lightning and I was being jerked along to its vicious tune.

Natori threw out his hands and shouted. "I can't stop the lightning! **_Takashi_**...!"

 _It burned, **it burned** , **IT BURNED**_! Grabbing onto the masked spirit, the two of us could only shriek.

There was a huge rush of white and I was suddenly smashed to the ground under the heavy weight of frost white fur marked in scarlet. I caught a glimpse of a massive yellow eye that was achingly familiar. I blinked. "Mada..."

The world exploded.

I fell into a pool of darkness.

A voice fell into the darkness with me. It plopped and the darkness rippled like a pool of water -- or blood. "Hey..." A young boy spoke, his voice clear as a bell and just as sweet. "Hey, what's wrong?" Light pooled and formed a faded picture like an old sepia-tinted movie. It was a little boy. I couldn't make out the face, but he had a very familiar lizard on his forearm. His hand was out. "What a weird mask... Your hand! It's bleeding!"

Floating in that rippling darkness, I suddenly understood. _These are her memories_.

The faded images shifted to become the boy at the masked spirit's side wrapping her hand with cloth. "This is what my mom did for me when I fell down." The boy dropped his chin, but his hands didn't falter. "My mom's gone now. She was delicate." He shrugged slightly. "But my uncle says I'm bad luck because I see weird things." He scowled. "But if that's true, then someone should have gotten rid of me before that happened!"

The spirit huffed out a sigh. "You talk a lot, child." Her voice was dry and a little rusty, as though she hadn't used it in a long, long time. "Humans -- especially children -- do not have the power to cause misfortune, to be 'bad luck'."

The boy stared up at her with wide golden eyes. "Really?"

The spirit patted his head with her freshly bandaged hand. "You're a nice kid -- a nice _normal_ kid." A sigh whispered through the pool of darkness. "Which is why, when I met you again, I was so happy."

I opened my eyes to blue sky and clouds. I was alive. A look around showed me that I was sprawled on my back still in the magic circle with burned paper and ash all around me.

To my immediate left was Madara, or rather Nyanko in his chubby cat form, snoring away. His fur was a bit singed here and there, but he would clearly be just fine.

On my right was the spirit. Her mask was cracked and through it, one wide open blue eye looked over at me.

I blinked in astonishment. "She's _alive_." _We_ were alive. We were _all_ alive. We were decidedly crispy around the edges, but definitely alive. I felt like celebrating -- once I could move again.

"Yes, and the spell around her neck was burned away."

"Eh?" I blinked and looked up.

Seated on the ground right by my head was Natori. He leaned over me with a sad smile. "I figured she had a fifty-fifty chance of survival." He lowered his gaze and sighed. "Since that pitiful spirit couldn't escape that spell, I wanted to let her pass on. If she survived it, at least the rope would be destroyed and she'd be free. His gaze drifted to Nyanko. "But, it's clear now that she wouldn't have made it. She survived only because you two shielded her."

My attention was caught by the ash floating on the wind. _That_ was very nearly her. That was very nearly _me_. Gods... I was so... _tired_.

Natori sighed heavily and looked down at his clasped hands. "Please forgive me. I..." His eyes closed tightly and his knuckles whitened. "I never meant for this to happen to you. I never meant to...hurt you."

I rolled my eyes. "No, you only wanted to enslave me." My voice sounded just as dry and crispy as I felt.

Natori gave me a weak smile. "When I look at you, I remember how I used to be, and how...vulnerable I was." He shrugged, just a little. "I just wanted..." He took a deep breath, but his voice sounded weary. "I just wanted to _talk_ to you, and maybe teach you a few things."

I looked up at the clouds. "I just wanted to talk to you too."

Natori's gaze abruptly narrowed and his jaw tightened. He spoke so softly, I almost didn't hear it. "I just want...to protect you."

Something in the way Natori said those words lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. It was time to go. I needed to get Nyanko and myself out of there, out of Natori's reach -- immediately.

Easier said than done. Every muscle in my body screamed in agony. It was very difficult to just draw a full breath. My skin felt dry and ashen, as though it would blow right off my bones with the next stiff breeze. That didn't stop me from shoving myself up into a sitting position. I even managed to scoop Nyanko into my arms.

Natori rose to one knee and held out his hands. "Takashi! You shouldn't be moving just yet." Suddenly his jaw tightened and his gaze shifted left then right, as though he was expecting someone, and they were late.

That galvanized me into heaving myself onto my feet. I whimpered, but I made it without falling over. I had no intention of waiting around to see what Natori had up his sleeves. I started walking toward the gate.

"Takashi, wait...!" Natori held his hands out toward me. "Help is on the way, just wait a few more minutes."

Help? I snorted. _Riiight._.. Just how stupid did he think I was? Somehow, I dodged his hands and kept moving toward the gate. "I'm fine. I have to get home anyway." At the gate, I summoned the energy to lift one hand in a half wave. "Later."

Rather than follow me, Natori suddenly turned and ran for the main house. I frowned. "That can't be good." Not for me anyway. Ten steps away from the gate was a patch of trees. I ducked into them. Though I had the Book of Friends on me, I didn't have the power to summon anyone -- not in the condition I was in. However, I did have permission. "Mitsuzu, please come to me."

A groaning wind bent the trees, and then a hoof larger than my head appeared at my feet. "Natsume, that is a very weak face you are presenting to me."

I smiled up at the giant black horse. "Surviving an exorcism will do that to you."

Mitsuzu's belled ears tilted forward and he shook his head to shift his white mane out of both widened eyes. "Exorcism...?"

Still smiling, I nodded. "Could you, get us out of here, please?" I don't know what happened after that because I quite plainly, topped over.

  
**~ * ~**

I woke up in my bed with a wet cloth on my forehead and Nyanko at my side still snoring away.

Only minutes later, Touko walked into my room with a bowl of soup on a tray. "Oh, you're awake!" She knelt at my bedside and helped me sit up. "Your friend dropped you off saying that you weren't feeling well." She pressed a cool palm to his brow. "My guess is that you've pushed yourself just a little too hard and your fever from before flared back up."

It was a really good excuse, so I decided to go with it, but... I winced and rubbed my temples where a head-ache was building. "My...friend?" _Oh Gods, please don't mean Natori_!

Touko set the tray across my lap. "White hair, dark skin, very handsome? Mr. Mitsuzu I think he said his name was."

"Oh..." I sighed in relief. "Yes, Mitsuzu is a _very_ good friend of mine." I would make sure to do something to pay him back for his kindness.

Touko placed a cloth napkin before me and handed me a spoon. "Eat some soup and I'll _consider_ letting you go to school in the morning." She shook her head and sighed. "You really should be far more careful when playing around fireworks. They can be dangerous!"

I blinked at her. _Fireworks_...? That was certainly _one_ way to put it.

Touko fluttered her hands. "Mr. Mitsuzu said it was only the smoke that got to you, but still...!"

I bowed my head. "Yes ma'am, I'll be sure to avoid the smoke from fireworks from now on." Not to mention the exorcists that like to set them off. I looked up at her. "I'm sincerely sorry I troubled you."

She sighed. "Well, you're a boy. It's expected that you're going to get into trouble every now and again -- especially around fireworks." She winked. "It just proves you're normal."

 _Normal_...? I could only stare at her.

~ ***** ~

I did go to school the next morning, but I was still feeling rather...fried.

Even Kaname noticed that I wasn't quite up to speed. He stared at me wide-eyed. "What the hell happened to you? You look like someone set you on fire and didn't quite put you out."

I winced. _Damn his instincts_. "Can I tell you at lunch?"

Kaname nodded, letting me go then, but he came by my class at lunch break. Clearly, there was no escaping _this_ little talk.

In the empty classroom, I told him all about the spirit and the exorcism that I...interrupted.

Sandwich halfway to his open mouth, Kaname froze and stared at me. "You...what?" He let his hand --and sandwich-- fall slowly into his lap. "You jumped into an elemental exorcism circle that was _active_?"

I shrugged. "There was no other way."

"Bleeding Gods..." Kaname smacked his own forehead with his other hand. "Look, Takashi, I understand that you want to help spirits, but _must_ you commit suicide while you're at it?"

I frowned at him. "Hey, I lived!"

Kaname narrowed his black eyes at me. " _This_ time." He digressed into a long vehement lecture on taking my life a lot more seriously because if I were to die foolishly not only would the Fujiwaras be devastated, certain _other_ people would be pissed as hell.

I couldn't help but smile. It was nice to have someone care for me that much.

The week passed by with no sign of Natori other than the occasion fan-girl report on the filming out in the far fields.

Kaname and I continued to meet in the empty classroom for lunch, if not...other things. That exorcism was surprisingly draining. I spent a lot of time simply sleeping.

So did Nyanko.

Friday on my way home from school, the goat-spirit woman, Sasago, appeared on the road to my house. "Just delivering a message!" She held up a folded piece of paper. "We're leaving town tomorrow. Master Natori is going by train. This is the time and station."

I looked down at Nyanko who happened to be toddling at my side.

He shrugged. Apparently, Nyanko didn't see a threat in it.

I took the paper.

~ * ~

Bright and early Saturday morning under a clear sunny sky, I went to the train station on the edge of town to watch Natori leave -- to make _sure_ Natori left.

I found him in the covered booth where the ticket machines were. He was without his hat or glasses, and in a full-collared jacket that shifted in colors. He turned to smile at me. "I've decided that I just can't have a rash brat like you for an assistant."

"Oh, really?" I grinned broadly. "How very disappointing."

Natori's jaw tightened. "Smart-ass."

I shook my head. "How did you become so cynical?" I pouted ever so slightly. "You used to be such a _nice_ kid."

Natori frowned. "What are you talking about?"

I waved a hand. "Never mind." I frowned at him. "Call me soft if you like, but I just can't accept your way of dealing with spirits."

Natori sighed and looked up at the sky. "That's fine. No one said we _had_ to have the same opinion on everything." He turned back to me and shrugged. "Understanding people can be difficult no matter how much you have in common."

So I had learned -- the hard way.

Natori looked at his watch and then turned to me. He held up a folded piece of paper between two fingers. "Takashi, if you ever have a problem, spirit related or not, I want you to know that you can call me. I will _always_ come if you need me." He pushed the paper into my palm and smiled sourly. "Even if you only need a friendly ear to listen to you."

I took the paper and gave him a sincere smile. "Thank you."

With a smile and a wave, Natori walked away and stepped onto the waiting train.

Right behind him stepped the spirit in the one-eyed, horned mask. The mask was still cracked, but the smile was still on it too. She looked much better. Her kimono of midnight blue over white was clean and new looking. Her shoulder-length dark hair looked as though it'd had a recent trim. She held a very new-looking staff with bells on it too.

At my feet, Nyanko sighed then spoke up in his creaky old-man voice. "It seems that that spirit has decided to become that sorcerer's follower. She's even taken a name from him, Hiragi."

I looked down at the cat. "What? But she was free?"

Nyanko turned away and began toddling across the grassy field, away from the station and clearly heading for home. "Maybe she's in love?"

I followed him through the grass. "So spirits _can_ fall in love." I suddenly felt a whole lot better for no apparent reason what so ever. 

Nyanko snorted. "Of course we can." He looked up at me from the corner of his eyes. "I absolutely _love_ the taste of you." He smacked his lips loudly.

I cringed away from him. "Eww! Don't say stuff like that when you're in _that_ form!"

"Oh, then shall I say it in this one?" With a poof of power, he was suddenly in his massive dog-like form, grinning at me with teeth as long as my forearm.

I flinched back and waved my hands. "Gods no!" I set my hands on my hips and leveled a glare at him. "Are you _trying_ to give me nightmares?"

Madara continued to stride at my side, massive and shining in the sunlight. "Perhaps I merely wish to replace your current nightmares?"

I blinked. "Oh..." Something warm bloomed in my heart. Then I suddenly remembered something I should have said a full week ago. "Thank you for saving me, during the exorcism."

The massive dog-spirit rolled a golden eye toward me. "I just happen to like my meat raw -- not burned to a crisp."

I snorted out a laugh. _Typical_.

With a poof of power, Madara shrank back down into Nyanko. "As for Hiragi's choice to follow that sorcerer... The only one who can fully understand what will make them happy, are they themselves."

I blinked at Nyanko. That almost sounded...intelligent. I looked away and shrugged. "I guess you're right."

Nyanko snorted. "About time you realized that."

**~ * ~**

That autumn, I finally met someone who saw what I saw, and knew what I knew, who straddled two worlds, yet didn't belong to either; someone...like me. Even so, we did _not_ come to the same conclusions. We did _not_ share the same views. 

Despite my ability to see spirits, the true feelings that beat inside another person's heart remained a mystery to me. I suppose it's the same for everyone.

I suppose that even makes me somewhat...normal.

~ **_Fini_** ~

 


End file.
